


Keep Myself Alive

by CatiCat



Category: Creepypasta - Fandom, Marble Hornets
Genre: Creepypasta, Horror, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:29:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27559126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatiCat/pseuds/CatiCat
Summary: Toby never had a lot of things going for him. As a 19-year-old with a cocktail of mental disorders, he was always written off as crazy. The twelve holes he put in his father's head proved that. Since then he has become a proxy, a loyal servant to the Operator, and has vowed to stay by his side until the very end, but when the Operator goes missing, Toby must team up with the people he despises the most and step up before a higher power can end them all...Or: Toby gets repeatedly injured leaving Masky and Hoodie to pick up the pieces
Relationships: Hoody/Masky (Creepypasta), Tobias Erin "Toby" Rogers | Ticci Toby/Hoody (Creepypasta), Tobias Erin "Toby" Rogers | Ticci Toby/Hoody/Masky (Creepypasta), Tobias Erin "Toby" Rogers | Ticci Toby/Timothy "Tim" Wright | Masky
Comments: 16
Kudos: 48





	1. Ajoura

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Numanum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Numanum/gifts).



Toby barely remembered his first kill.

It was all a big blur of colors and emotions that he didn’t know how to process and when he thought hard enough, all he saw was red. Red and the smell of copper and honey and the screams as his first victim screamed at him to stop. Voices screeching in his head, “Toby, Toby, Toby,” over and over again until he got sick of his name. The one thing that he did remember clearly was the raw pleasure he got off of the kill. The feeling of pure adrenaline through his veins as he engulfed himself in red.

A pleasure that not even sex could give him, but killing and torturing these poor lonely souls was something he could get used to.

Toby felt that same sense of thrill as he towered over his next victim. The man squirmed under him as he struggled to breathe or even comprehend anything beyond pain. It was so pathetic.

Toby still had to give the man props, he was one hell of a fighter. He had managed to escape from Toby the first time they fought and live alone in the woods for two weeks. For two weeks Toby looked for his target, but the man always slipped him. It was frustrating and Toby could already imagine the insults Masky will throw at him.

His target’s name was Ron Rosenthal, a failed proxy who denied Master’s help and even attempted to hurt him. Toby wasn’t very eager to go on the mission when Masky had told him it was a failed proxy, there were so many these days, but a kill was a kill. He finally caught the bastard when he had tracked him down and cornered him like a wild animal.

“You’re a fast one, aren’t you?” Toby taunted Ron as he kept on fighting back. “Stop that!” he ordered Ron and started to strangle him. Ron tried to push Toby away, but it was no use, Toby was a lot stronger than he seemed.

Toby only gripped Ron’s neck long enough so that he didn’t have the breath to fight back. Ron slowly stopped moving, fading in and out. Toby let go of his neck at the brink of death and Ron immediately opened his eyes and head butted Toby. Toby heard something crack as he fell to the ground with an oomph.

“Motherfucker,” Toby cussed and instinctively rubbed his forehead. He checked to see what had cracked and horrified to see that the lens of his orange goggles had broken. He saw Ron attempt to crawl away and he stomped his foot on Ron’s leg. He heard a satisfying crunch and Ron scream for mercy.

“Please!” Ron begged. “Please stop!”

Toby shook his head. “I was gonna do that, Ronny, but now that you’ve broken my goggle I can’t let you live. You don’t destroy other people’s property.” Ron started sobbing. “Don’t worry. I won’t torture you that much.” Toby unsheathed his axe and hit Ron’s spine with the blunt side, paralyzing the man.

He let out a cry when Toby kicked him on his back, Toby’s foot on his sternum. Toby grinned as he started to apply pressure.

“Stop, stop, stop,” Ron repeated over and over. Toby heard Ron’s ribs slowly crack as his foot sunk deeper into his chest. He let out an ear-piercing shriek. “The devil will have your head for this!”

“I live with the devil,” Toby retorted. He grinned as he rose the axe over his head and swung it full force at Ron’s shoulder. Ron gasped in shock and arched his back.

Toby removed the axe and blood poured out of his wound. Toby savored the smell of copper and honey. Oh, the things he wanted to do to Ron, but, sadly, he had spent too much time on one target. He needed to leave soon or Hoody and Masky would leave him. Impatient fucker.

“Well, Ronny, it seems like I have to go,” Toby told him. “I wish I could play some more, but I got a lot of more playmates to visit. I hope you understand.”

Ron didn’t respond to Toby and just laid there, sobbing and praying. He vaguely recognized the words that Ron muttered and laughed.

“Oh, Ronny, stop praying,” he laughed.

“Forgive me, God,” he sobbed.

“There is no God.”

Toby swung his axe again, making a deep cut into Ron’s neck. Blood sputtered from the wound and Ron’s chest spasmed until his last breath. He felt pleasure and joy course through his veins as Ron died slowly and painfully.

Five minutes later, Toby got down from his high. He sighed as he looked at the body. It was one of his worst missions. Not only did it take forever, but he felt almost nothing; that five minutes of heaven wasn’t even worth it.

There wasn’t much he could do now. Just get home and hope that Masky would leave him alone.

\---

It took five days to get back since Toby had no money and no teleporting. For some odd reason, master hadn’t answered his signal after he had killed Ron. Toby didn’t think too much into it since master probably had better things to do than pick him up, but getting from Texas to Alabama on foot took time and buses weren’t optional when he was covered in blood.

They really need to teach me how to drive, Toby thought as he walked through the dense wooded area that surrounded the asylum he lived in. He could vaguely see a faint light in the distance.

The asylum that Toby inhabited was nothing special. It was old and burnt down, most of it missing walls and roofs, but for some reason it was special to Masky and Hoody. He had asked them once and Masky had said it was his personal hell while Hoody said it was where he was born. That only left Toby even more confused.

Toby didn’t know a lot about his co-workers except that he needed to google Marble Hornets, but it wasn’t exactly easy without a computer. Hoody made it a little clearer when he explained that Marble Hornets was a blog about what had happened to them. Masky didn’t touch the subject and just ignored them.

Toby entered the asylum through a hole in the wall and called out for Hoody or Masky. The walls had torches nailed to them and it showed off the intense graffiti. Toby always worried that the place would catch on fire again; not that he had a problem with fire, but he liked his stuff.

The asylum had changed a lot since the first time Toby had seen it. There were more functioning items like an old stove that they used to cook their meals. Wood was used to patch up some of the holes in the walls and knocking down a few walls led to bigger rooms. It was starting to look like an actual home and Toby didn’t mind.

Toby searched the asylum, but he couldn’t find the proxies anywhere. He checked the kitchen which was empty except for a few can beans and jugs of water. He tried to check Masky’s room, but it was locked; how he got it to lock was a mystery to Toby. He thought about breaking down the door, but he decided against it; Masky would probably have his head for violating his privacy.

Toby walked towards Hoody’s room. He was probably just sleeping, he never saw the guy sleep, so he probably slept when no one is here.

“Hoody?” Toby called out as he opened Hoody’s door. Toby took out his lighter and set the torch on fire. Hoody’s room lit up and Toby saw no one.

Hoody’s room was extremely plain like all the other rooms, but it was way neater than Toby’s room. There was only a duffel bag and a dirty mattress on the floor. Someone wrote "He is a Liar" on a wall in permanent marker, but besides that it was barren. Toby had asked Hoody about it, but he didn’t say anything. Masky, on the hand, punched him when he asked. Toby really needed to get internet.

“What are you doing?” Someone said behind Toby.

Toby jumped and knocked over the torch on the wall. The room darkened and Toby unsheathed his axe, ready to attack. He swung the axe at the figure, but it caught the axe, ripping it out off Toby’s hand.

Toby got up and tried to run away, but the figure grabbed him by the back of his sweater. This person had extremely quick reflexes. He fought back, trying to get his hands on the person.

“Toby!” The figure yelled and he stopped struggling.

“Hoody?” He asked and Hoody dropped him.

“Yeah, so calm the fuck down, kid,” Hoody said. The room then brightened when Hoody re-lit the torch.

“You shouldn’t have scared me,” Toby replied, getting off the floor.

“You shouldn’t be in my room,” he retorted.

“Whatever,” he muttered. “Can I have my axe back?”

Hoody gave Toby his axe back and Toby put it back in his belt. “Where have you been?”

“The motherfucker wanted to play hide and seek.”

Hoody dryly laughed. “That explains what happened to your face.”

“At least I have a face,” he shot back.

Toby knew that Hoody had a face, but he never saw it. Twenty-four/seven Hoody wore the same hoodie sweater and black, wool mask. He never saw Hoody’s face except once when they had met. Toby vaguely remembered what he looked like. All he remembered was Hoody’s brown hair and toothy smile. After that, Toby only saw Hoody's black mask that had a frowny face on it; he wondered how Hoody could even see through that mask.

“At least I have my mask. Where are your goggles?”

“What do you think caused the cuts?” Toby took out his broken goggles from his pocket.

Hoody looked at them and hissed in sympathy. “That sucks.”

“Think you can get me replacements?” Toby asked, remembering that Hoody had gotten him the goggles. It was "welcome to Hell" gift that he got him when he became a proxy. They were very useful, good for seeing blood that they missed at crime scenes and helped him see through the dark.

Hoody examined the goggles. “I could fix them, but replacements are probably your better choice. I’ll see what I can do, but that’s for later.”

“Later?” Toby inquired. “Why later?”

“We got a new mission,” Hoody answered him.

“Seriously?” Toby groaned. “But I just came back.”

“Master said it was urgent and that he needed all three of us.”

Toby started to bite his gloved hand. “It must be really serious if he wants all three of us.”

Extremely serious. There was always this unspoken rule when it came to missions with all three proxies; that it always for life or death situations. Besides that it was either solo missions or Masky and Hoody missions. Never Toby and Hoody or Toby and Masky because, honestly, those missions never ended well. Hoody and Toby failed to communicate on mission, but it wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t tell what Hoody was doing because they never talked. Toby and Masky missions always ended up with fighting or one of them being left behind; the first, and last, mission had left Toby stranded in Canada for two weeks until Master had finally found him.

Masky, Hoody and Toby mission ended fairly, but were difficult. Toby usually only did things when Masky needed him to do something that will obviously hurt, but since he couldn’t feel pain he did it. Every time Masky or Toby fought Hoody would be there to separate the fight or, when they wouldn’t listen to him, threaten them with his gun. They were still dysfunctional, unplanned, and a huge hot mess, but, surprisingly, it somewhat worked. Masky was the perfect planner, his plans barely failed, Hoody was the stalker, being naturally quiet and great at finding weakness, and Toby was the muscle, not in the sense that he was strong, but he was one that enjoyed the kill and was great at torture. Sure, they still couldn’t stand each other, but it wasn’t like they needed to.

Hoody nodded. “Very, we were about to leave without you, but Master had ordered us to wait.”

“When did you get the mission plan?”

“A week ago.”

Toby twitched. “Shit. Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“Calm down. We’re meeting Masky on the roof. Come.” Hoody then left the room and Toby followed him. Hoody led Toby to the stairs to the roof and they started to walk up. “He’ll fill you in on the mission and the plan. We should probably leave by tonight.”

“Yep. I definitely don’t need sleep,” Toby sarcastically murmured.

“You sleep?” Hoody joked.

“Fuck you.”

The roof of the asylum was mostly made of wood planks since that was the only thing they had to fix the roof when they were making repairs. Hoody and Toby avoided the planks and stayed on the flat concrete. Toby saw Masky on the other side of the roof and he wondered how he managed to get over there.

Toby slowly made his way to him and twitched when a small amount of cigarette smoke hit him in the face. If it weren’t for his mouth guard, Toby would’ve gagged, but instead he fanned the smoke away.

“You called, boss?” Toby teased as he reached Masky. Hoody came a second later.

“Toby,” Masky greeted flatly. His eyes were staring intently at a file in his lap as he smoked a cigarette; his stress reliever.

“Person,” Toby replied. Toby sat behind Masky, waiting for him to stop staring the file. He found it tempting to knock him off the roof, but he wanted to finish this mission and go into a coma.

“Tim,” Hoody greeted. Masky grunted and Hoody sat next to him.

Unlike Hoody, Toby knew what Masky looked like and his real name. It was Timothy Wright, but he never dared to say it. The last time Toby said his name was when he tripped Masky. Masky said he was going to kill him and Toby replied, “Bring it, Timothy.” The next day he woke up upside down and tied to a tree while three very angry dogs tried to eat him.

Masky was very uptight, always about business and never about fun. In fact, none of this was ever fun for Masky, not the killing nor the chase and that always puzzled Toby. Yet, no matter what, he stayed beside Master and that didn’t help Toby understand.

Most of the time Masky wore a signature outfit like Hoody, but slightly different. He wore a similar yellow jacket that Hoody wore and even wore a mask, but the masks were different. Masky’s mask was white with black paint around the eye holes. Curved eyebrows were also painted along with a mouth. He had a habit of smoking, so Toby usually saw what he looked like. Masky wasn’t anything special, not very handsome, but not ugly. He had dark brown hair, brown eyes and noticeable side burns.

“So,” Toby said awkwardly, “the mission.”

Masky looked sharply at Toby. “Where the fuck have you been?” he hissed.

“Miss you too,” Toby sarcastically said.

Masky turned to face Toby and Hoody. “What the fuck happened to your face?”

Not wanting to tell Masky about his terrible mission, Toby said, “You say the word fuck a lot for a virgin.”

Masky looked ready to shout at Toby, but Hoody cut in. “He got cut when his goggles broke.”

“He’s still bleeding,” Masky pointed out.

“We’ll take care of it later,” Hoody assured him.

“Ahem,” Toby coughed. “The mission.”

Masky glared at him, silently saying how this wasn’t over. “You’ve missed a lot in the last two weeks.”

“I was gone for three weeks.”

Masky ignored him and gave each of them a file. “Master wants us to kidnap someone called the Observer.”

“The Observer?” Toby asked, skimming through the file.

“Supposedly he is a high figure in the SCP foundation. He’s trying to start a new branch of the SCP that experiments on creepypastas,” Masky answered.

“Why are we kidnapping him?” Hoody asked. “We don’t deal with creepypastas.”

Creepypastas. In the beginning, the word made Toby’s skin crawl, but after murdering hundreds of people and getting a creepypasta girlfriend, he was somewhat okay with them. He was wary at first, scared that the creepypastas would be a threat, but Toby realized that they were no threat. Sure, they were bloodthirsty mortals with amazing abilities, but all they shared was that. The creepypastas despised each other, going to great lengths to beat each other. It was almost like the proxies except Master forced them to behave, no one was controlling these knife wielding freaks.

“Looks like they kidnapped ten of them, but he also kidnapped three proxies,” Toby read.

“We need to do this as quickly as possible if we want to stop him,” Masky said. “We’re going to head to SCP headquarters which is only five cities away. If we finish this in an hour then we will be there by sunset. From there we are going to sneak into the base by using the blueprints Master left us.”

He spread the blueprints out. The SCP headquarters was three floors high and thirty feet long. There were up to 250 rooms, each of them holding cells for the most dangerous SCPs.

“There is an entrance over here that got closed off, but it lacks security, so we can break in from there. Meanwhile, Hoody is going to hack into the security and turn off the cameras. After that, we’ll meet up and sneak into the boardroom. Observer’s schedule says that there is a meeting there at 10 pm, so we have to move quickly. We’ll take him and drag him back here.”

“Who’s getting the escape vehicle?” Hoody asked.

Toby rolled his eyes, already knowing the answer. It was going to him, it always was. Every mission someone needed to hijack another vehicle in order confuse any security. Masky always gave him the job, so he could get rid of him.

“I will,” Masky answered and it shocked Toby Hoody stared at Masky for a second before nodding and looking at the file again.

“Seriously?” Toby questioned, not really believing it. “Why?”

“I need Hoody to hacked into the system and you to cover him. I’ll get the vehicles why you guys are busy. I would send you, Toby, but you’re the only psychopathic killer we have,” Masky answered.

“Yes!” Toby cheered, pumping his fist in the air.

“But you better follow all of my instructions. Mess up once and I will slit your throat, got it Rogers?” Masky threatened.

“Got it!” Toby exclaimed and got up. “Now let's do this shit!”

“Sit down! I still have to go over a few things to say-”

“Later, now is the time for action!” That is when Toby jumped off the roof of the asylum.

“Toby!” He heard Hoody shout.

Toby fell with a thump and it took him a moment to feel his legs. He heard a small crunch when he hit the ground, but got up like he hadn’t jumped off the roof.

“Rogers!” Masky yelled.

Toby only laughed and skipped to the car.

It took them three hours to get to the headquarters. They drove in a van filled with guns and Hoody gave Masky directions. Toby laid in the back, his foot wrapped. He fractured his ankle and had to lay there as Masky gave him a lecture on his safety and the control his impulses. He mimicked him and that led Masky to lash out, but Hoody calmed him down. He also smacked Toby and he was so happy that he couldn’t feel pain.

Toby didn’t get what the big deal about jumping off of the roof was. He couldn’t feel pain, so it didn’t matter if he got hurt.

Masky parked the car a half mile from the headquarters. Hoody took out a few supplies, tossing Toby a pair of clear goggles. He wasn’t a huge fan of them, but they were better than nothing, so Toby put them on. Hoody also turned on a camera, another Marble Hornets thing.

They walked (or in Toby’s case, limped) to the headquarters. Masky and Toby wouldn’t stop bickering and Hoody threatened to shoot all of them which Toby didn’t doubt. He was pretty sure that Hoody had repressed issues and he knew how PTSD affects the mind.

The SCP headquarters wasn’t anything that Toby imagined. He expected a huge prison filled with screams of pain and guards surrounding the perimeter. Instead, the SCP headquarters was smaller and made of white marble and glass. It was very quiet and no one could be seen. A garden full of roses and trees surrounded the building. It was also very quiet, the sound of birds was the only thing he could here.

“SCP” was written out in bright blue letters over the entrance.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Toby asked.

“This is the address,” Hoody replied.

“But, it’s so… clean and nice.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Masky said. “We need to get moving.”

The dark sky was a great cover for them as they ran to the headquarters. It was hard to adjust to the color of the goggles, Toby really wish he had his orange goggles. Masky led them to the entrance. It was a giant metal door that had bolts circling it. Toby took out his axe, ready to break it down, but Masky told him to put it down.

Hoody sat down next to the door and took out a laptop from the bag he got from the car. He set down his camera and started typing on his laptop. Toby looked over, but instantly got lost when he saw all the numbers and letters.

“I’ll be back,” Masky said when he saw Hoody working. He turned to Toby. “Make sure no one sees you. I’ll be back soon, so don’t wander off and listen to Hoody.”

“Yes, mom,” Toby saluted him. Masky growled and stormed away.

“You know, you don’t have to agitate him,” Hoody said after Masky left.

“But it’s fun,” Toby whined.

Hoody shook his head. “Tim has been through enough. He doesn’t have to deal with your childishness.”

“Who cares?” Toby replied. “I’ve had a shitty life. You don’t see me being a jackass.”

“Strange, Tim said the same thing when I was talking about you,” Hoody retorted. Toby glared, not liking what Hoody was suggesting.

“Fuck you, I’m nothing like that moron,” Toby hissed.

“He said the same thing.” He went back to his computer.

Toby fumed and turned away, keeping watch. Masky was really the only thing they really talked about. Toby never really heard much about Masky’s rough life, but Toby didn’t understand why that mattered. They all had a rough life before becoming a proxy. Sure, he has always been a proxy, but being a proxy wasn’t a ray of sunshine. It was mind-boggling and plain torture.

“Got it,” Hoody said. Toby looked over and saw the bolts on the door fall off. He heard the sound of something unlocking. The door creaked and whirred as it slowly slid open. Brown dust fell out and his goggles stopped it from getting into his eyes.

Toby peered into the door and saw a long, dark pipe. He gagged as he caught a whiff of the inside of the pipe. Great, it wasn't an actual entrance, it was a fucking sewage pipe.

“We’re going in there?” Toby asked, turning away from the door.

“Get over it,” Hoody replied. He stood up and grabbed his camera, positioning it in front of the pipe. “You already smell like death.”

“Fuck you.”

Hoody insisted that they waited for Masky and after five minutes Toby got restless. He tapped his foot impatiently and kept on jumping. Damn Tourettes and ADHD was getting on his nerves and it was getting on Hoody’s nerves.

He kept shooting glares at Toby every time he twitched. He ignored Hoody, just like he would ignore Masky, no wanting to have a fight with one of the few people who could stand him. Then again, was Hoody even human.

He never ate or slept or did anything else, but follow Masters lead and carry that stupid camera. He barely talked or showed emotion unless it was annoyance and the only time he even looked like he was having fun was when Toby poured paint on Masky while he and Hoody were arguing. It was funny, but Toby still had marks from that prank.

Not like he didn’t have marks from different things like when he tried to play tag with Kate or painted Masky’s mask or tried to make something else besides canned food or when he kissed Clocky the first time they met.

Toby’s thoughts jumped around as he waited for his ally. He always blamed it on the mental disorders. He was a cocktail of crazy with ADHD, Tourette's, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and more he couldn’t remember. This usually led to his reckless behavior, but he didn’t say anything. He wasn’t bothered by the disorders, he always had them, but sometimes it got really bad. At the beginning, when he was small and scared, he couldn’t cope with the voices. Everything made him jump as they just taunted him with small memories of abuse and disturbed the world around him. He was on his way to the deep end before Master had saved him. He didn’t know what Master did, but it kept the voices at bay; only the joys of murder silenced them.

Toby’s train of thought broke off as he felt something wrap around his ankle. He looked down to see a red tentacle on his ankle. It lightly pricked his skin as it fastened its hold.

“What the fu-” The red tentacle tugged and Toby fell to the ground, hitting his jaw and almost biting clean through his tongue in the process. He took in Hoodies panicked stance and saw an arm reach towards him, but it was to late, whatever grabbed him wasn't letting go and started to yank him into the tunnel. He was quickly jerked around the corner and screamed for Hoody until sewage entered his mouth.

Toby struggled to grasp and kill the thing that was dragging him. He kicked and screamed, but all it did was make him look like a child having a tantrum. whatever it was dragged him through the maze of pipes and Toby was moving so quickly he couldn’t see anything.

He finally managed to kick the thing once and it only grasped on tighter and gave a hiss before suddenly releasing him. He immediately jumped into action and went for his weapon, but his axe wasn’t there. Just a big wooden stick.

“Motherfucker!” He cursed and caught his breath.

The thing growled at him and Toby could vaguely see it in the dark. He wishes he had his night-vision goggles that allowed him to see in the dark, but the fucktard he killed just had to break them. He finally got a faint glimpse of the thing that attacked him but all he could make out was a giant blog with multiple tentacles sticking out of it.

It made another hissing sound and lunged at Toby. He hit it with his stick with as much force could be mustered, and the thing took the stick with it. well fuck that, Toby ran, taking a flashlight out of his belt. He turned it on and turned right. He didn’t know where he was going, but anything was better than here.

“Hoody! Masky!” He called out and he vaguely heard a terrified sounding Toby! echo back

He heard the thing chase him, it sounded like it was swimming through the waste. He turned again to a random tunnel, but it led to another dead-end. He turned, pointing his light at the thing.

It was a SCP, it could only be a SCP, with the numbers 751 carved into its skin. It looked like a huge red blob of acne and tentacles sticking out. It was beyond natural.

It launched itself as Toby and latched onto his stomach. Toby fell into the sewage water and tried to pry the SCP off of him. It felt like putty in his hands, but he could feel bones.

The SCP wouldn’t budge and it started melting into his skin. Toby was freaking out as he felt it in his stomach like a parasite. It was going to eat him from the inside out. Adrenaline started coursing through his veins and Toby smashed the flashlight on the thing's head as he panicked. He kept hitting it over and over as its grip on Toby loosened.

He heard its skull crack and stopped melting into his skin. He pushed the thing off of him and sat up, trying to comprehend what just happened.

Toby gasped for air as the SCP started to dissolve into the water. He attempted to get up, but his limbs felt wet and loose like the thing had poisoned him. He wished that wasn’t the case as he pulled himself up, using the slimy wall as leverage. He looked around, completely lost, but his flashlight gladly still worked. The flashlight had SCP guts on it, but he just pointed the light and walked through the sewage system.

He kept on calling the names of his allies, but he didn’t get a reply this time. He wondered why this SCP was loose in the sewage, but then again the sewage system was under lock and key. He would have to ask Hoody about SCP-751. He wasn’t exactly good at memorizing stuff, so he left all that to Hoody.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Toby heard as the ground started to shake. Toby looked behind him and saw the water starting to wave. The smaller pipes around him rattled and the slime on the wall started to fall off. That was when a giant wave passed through Toby, reaching up to his waist.

The entire pipe filled with water and Toby barely had time to hold his breath as it swept him away.

Not again, he thought. He never truly got a break from this madness.

He could feel his lungs contract as his air supply got cut off. He tried to find an opening of air, anything, but it was useless.His hands flew up to grasp at his throat, scratching at the thin skin in an effort not to choke whatever he was in, but nothing helped and no one came. He quickly lost consciousness.


	2. Another Way Out

The water still felt heavy in his lungs as Toby faded in and out of consciousness.

The only thing he could remember were vague voices that he couldn’t recognize.

At one point he found himself strapped to a long metal table. Everything was so hazy as he tried to get up, but bindings dug into his skin.

He heard someone laugh. “Stop struggling, you worm.”

Toby turned his head and saw a man or more of a teenager? anyway, he was young, probably only a few years older than Toby, and very slim. He wore a green surgeon's shirt that was covered in blood with a matching surgical mask. He had long, black hair that covered most of his face. His crimson eyes contradicted his pale skin. He looked at Toby, amusement twinkled in his eyes.

“How…? Who…? Masky…!” He tried to form sentences in his head, but it felt like tar filled his brains.

The man tilted his head. “Now, now, don’t hurt yourself. You’ll see your friends soon, until then, I am all that should concern you.”

“But…?” The man shushed him and moved away from his sight. He returned a moment later with a syringe filled with a clear liquid. As he tapped the syringe Toby felt his muscles jump in anticipation but whatever the doctor injected him with caused the world to slowly start to melt away...

“Don’t worry,” the man said, petting his hair. “Dr. Smiley will take care of you.”

He had so many questions to ask, but the world faded away before he can even form them in his head...

\---

The next time he woke up was to faint singing. It took him a moment to understand what was happening, but as his senses slowly came back to him the singing only go stronger. It was sweet and soft. He opened his eyes to see where it was coming from. It was a girl sitting at his bedside, singing to him.

She was beautiful, like an angel. She had straight blonde hair that was pixyish. Her eyes were the biggest baby blue that Toby had ever seen. Her skin was pale and flawless. Her voice like honey, making Toby’s insides melt. She soon stopped singing when she noticed that he was awake.

“Oh, Toby,” the girl said, her voice as soft as silk. “I missed you so much.”

Toby tried to say something, anything, but his lips refused to open.

“Don’t cry,” she muttered while inching closer, Toby's breath hitched, didn’t even realize he was crying. “I’m always here, Toby, always here.” She brought a hand up to his face and wiped the tears off of his cheek. Toby immediately shut his eyes, inviting the darkness.

\---

The third time he woke up was to a loud banging. Toby shot up straight, his heart beating like a jack-rabbit. It took him a second to realize a few things. One, he couldn’t feel half of his body. Two, he didn’t know where he was. And three, someone had chained him to a wall.

He looked around his surroundings and saw that he was in a small, gray room. The room was filthy with mold growing off the wall and cockroaches scurrying across the floor. The chains dug into his skin and only allowed him to move about three feet. There was no furniture or bed, it was just an empty room with no windows and a singular metal door.

It took him a moment to realize that he wasn’t wearing his usual outfit. His mouth guard and goggles were gone. A grey pair of sweatpants and a black shirt replaced his green striped sweater and jeans. He only had socks on and his belt was gone. He also smelled like roses and his brown hair wasn’t mucky, but clean.

He searched his head for anything that could help him. That’s when he remembered the mission, the SCP, and the flood. He’d been captured by the SCPs.

“Fuck,” Toby cursed, his voice hoarse. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! So fucking stupid!”

"How amusing," he heard a very high pitched voice say. Tony looked up to the voice.

A man was standing in front of a now open door. He wore a black suit with a red tie instead of a green surgical shirt. Instead of a surgical mask, there was white gauze wrapped around his mouth with a sharp-toothed smile drawn on. He was observing him, scribbling notes in a notebook he was holding.

"It's good to see you awake again, Mr. Rogers," the doctor said, his voice was very clear through the gauze.

"What's wrong with your face?" Toby asked after a moment of hesitation.

Of course, he had gone and gotten himself kidnapped, once the others found him Masky wouldn't let him live it down..."You’ve been kidnapped by a major company and you’re insulting people?" Masky’s imaginary snide voice criticized.

"How rude!" The doctor exclaimed. "For your information, Tobias, there is nothing wrong with my face. My face is very normal."

"Having gauze on your face is not normal." Then again, Toby didn't exactly know what normal was.

The doctor grumbled. "Unlike you, I choose to look like this." He let out an exasperated sigh. "You proxies! All the same! You have to be mental to look like this, but let me tell you something, Tobias, some people just like to be freakish. There were so many things you could've asked me. Still, you choose to comment on my appearance."

“Who chooses to look like this?” Toby snapped back. Of course, he wished he looked normal, but instead he was okay-ish. Sure, he looked okay with his mouthguard, well, did, but without it revealed a huge hole on the side of his face. He had gotten it during a car crash.

Dr. Smiley waved his hand. “Yes, yes, next question!”

Toby looked at him strangely. What was wrong with this guy? "Okay… what's your name?"

The doctor's eyes twinkled. "Finally! I am Dr. Smiley, the greatest doctor alive. I usually introduce myself to my patients-"

"I'm not your patient!"

"-but you were unconscious the entire time. I've never had a patient with CIPA."

"CIPA?" Toby asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It’s the reason for your inability to feel pain. CIPA is the reason you can jump off of roofs or survive SCP-751."

"How did you know that?" Toby looked over Dr. Smiley. Was he stalking him?

"Oh, Tobias, I've been watching you for a very long time. Your kind is very rare and never become proxies. Sadly, the Operator had you under his tentacle and I couldn't get you without fading into darkness. The Operator is very protective of his proxies. Yet do a few favors and pull a few strings, and I'm gifted such a beautiful specimen."

"I am not a patient and I’m not a specimen!" Toby grumbled, started to get annoyed. "I am a Toby, a fucking proxy, you bastard! Now let me go!" Toby moved towards him, trying to get out of his bonds.

"Never! He promised me! He promised."

"Who is ‘He’?" Toby demanded to know.

Dr. Smiley ignored him. “It was so hard to get you. I tried everything, I stalked you for years. But those little bastards wouldn’t let me near you.” Dr. Smiley cackled. “He showed them, they’ll never, ever been in my way again.”

Bastards…? “You mean Masky and Hoody?” Toby asked. “What did you do to them?”

Dr. Smiley waved his hands. “It doesn’t matter.”

Toby gritted his teeth. “What do you mean it doesn’t matter?” He hissed.

“They don’t matter,” Dr. Smiley replied. “The only thing that matters now is me.”

“Tell me!” Toby demanded and lunged at the man, but he was pulled back; his head hitting the wall.

“Don’t you get it, Tobias?” Dr. Smiley cackled. “They are gone. I am the only one here for you.”

“No…” Toby groaned, his head throbbing. “They can’t be gone.” There was no way they were dead. He knew Masky and Hoody better than that. Then again, Toby couldn’t help but doubt them. This is the SCP headquarters and the whole plan had gone to shit so quickly…

Dr. Smiley shrugged. “Fine, don’t believe me. I must go now. Don’t bother trying to escape,” he added as he saw Toby struggle to free himself.

“No! Wait!” Toby cried, but Dr. Smiley had already left. The door closed shut and the lights flickered off, leaving Toby in the dark.

“Fuck.” Toby said, alone. Masky and Hoody… they couldn’t be dead. Could they? The last time Toby had seen them was outside the pipes before he was captured. Hoody had most likely chased after him. Or did he wait for Masky? Toby hoped with everything he had that Hoody waited for Masky and continued the mission without him, in the end, he didn't actually matter that much...

Toby tugged at his chains for another ten minutes, but it was no use. The chains looked old, but they were strong. The fight hadn't been taken out him like this in a long time but given he hadn’t properly slept in a week well... a little rest couldn't hurt...

\---

Toby woke up at breakfast. He heard the door open and the sound of something sliding. The object hit him in the leg and the lights flickered on.

It was a cardboard tray with an apple, milk and a mysterious looking ham sandwich. Toby took one glance at the sandwich and was about to throw it away, but he heard his stomach give a sad grumble.

Oh, right, Toby thought, I have to eat food to live. Toby took a bite of the sandwich. It wasn’t.. so bad.

It was always little things like eating and sleeping that slowly killed Toby. It was usually Hoody who shoved food down Toby’s throat or Masky that sprayed him with the hose because he refused to take a shower. He knew he would die if he didn’t sleep, but it was so easy to forget about it. Well, he could feel sleepy, but hunger pains? Broken bones? Infections? He couldn’t feel any of it. It almost made him feel immortal.

The lights soon turned off again and Toby was plunged back into darkness. This became a routine. He would lay in the darkness and only see the light when it was time to eat. Toby did everything he could to get out of his chains. He even attempted to eat his hand off--not his best plan when he thought about it--but it was no use. The chains were way too strong, even with his enhanced proxy strength.

What made it worse were the whispers the darkness brought. They were deep and gravely and could only be heard in once the doctors left. It was like the beginning of his proxy life. Voices would haunt him and whisper cruel things to him. They had ended a few months ago, but now they were reappearing again.

“Ticci Toby, Ticci Toby, Ticci Toby,” they kept taunting him over and over, like children. Toby hated that name. Masky had once called him that and Toby tried to set him on fire in retaliation. The name made his blood boil and his head pound. The voices tortured him every time the lights went out.

It wasn’t until his twenty-fifth meal--or was it thirtieth? He lost count--did Dr. Smiley show up again.

Toby was eating a moldy peanut butter and jelly sandwich when the door slammed open. Toby jumped and looked up to see Dr. Smiley with two large men. One of them had burn scars all over his dark, bald head and the other had hundreds of tattoos all over his body. They were both huge and muscular; both of them could probably snap Toby in half.

“Hello, Tobias,” Dr. Smiley said. He no longer wore his fancy suit, but went back to his green surgeon’s shirt. His gauzed smile was gone, showing off his sharp teeth. “How are you?”

Toby glared at the doctor.

“What’s wrong, Tobias? Cat got your tongue?”

“Why are you here?” Toby hissed.

Dr. Smiley rolled his eyes. “Am I not allowed here, Tobias? Now stop being so rude.”

“You’re holding me captive and I’m the one being rude?” Toby shot back.

“Don’t look at it like that,” Dr. Smiley replied. “Look at it like a playdate. Now come play with Dr. Smiley.”

“Why. Are. You. Here?” Toby repeated.

Dr. Smiley sighed. “You’re very stubborn compared to my usual patients.” Toby doubted that. “If you need to know, my lovely assistants and I are going to escort you to your next test.”

“No,” Toby said immediately.

“Ah, ah, ah, Tobias,” Dr. Smiley wagged his finger, “you don’t have a choice.”

“No,” Toby repeated, his voice straining. Toby always had voices in his head. The voices were usually just his urge to kill. The reason he was always bloodthirsty. Sure, they weren’t natural, but one thing was for sure; they never, ever hurt him. It only started after that doctor--if he even is an actual doctor--had injected him with that clear liquid.

“Too bad, you’re coming with me.” Dr. Smiley’s assistants, Scar Face and Tattoo Dude stepped towards him and he scurried backward, his back hitting the wall.

“Don’t you touch me,” He growled. “I don’t know what you did to me, but I’d rather be in darkness forever than have you fuck me up even more.”

Dr. Smiley tilted his head. “You’re getting symptoms from VS-28? What are they?”

Toby shook his head. “Leave me the fuck alone.”

Dr. Smiley's smile faltered, but he smiled again; this time it was bitter. “It doesn’t matter. There are always more willing participants.”

“I doubt that,” Toby shot back.

“Why don’t we make a deal?” Dr. Smiley asked.

“I don’t want a deal! I want to leave!”

Dr. Smiley ignored him. “I’ll take you to your little friends if you do everything I say.”

Toby looked up at the mention of Masky and Hoody. “You told me they were dead.”

“I said gone, not dead.”

Toby stared at him skeptically. Could he trust him to keep his word? “Yeah, right. You’re fucking lying to me.”

Dr. Smiley made an X over his heart. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Toby arched his eyebrows. “You have a heart?”

Dr. Smiley ignored him again. “Do we have a deal?”

“Yes,” Toby answered after a moment. He needed them to escape this hell hole. Not because he cared about them… not at all.

“Good.” Dr. Smiley turned to Scar-Face and Tattoo Dude. “Bring Toby to Cell D-34. Afterward, bring him to the lab. I’ll be waiting.” Dr. Smiley then turned and walked out of the room.

Scar Face and Tattoo Dude walked towards Toby; their expressions completely neutral. Tattoo Dude grabbed him by the arms, restraining him, and lifted him in the air. Toby squirmed as Scar-Face unlocked his chains and put a pair of handcuffs on his wrists. Tattoo Dude dropped him and forced him back up.

“Do you do this to all your patients?” Toby sarcastically asked, glaring at them.

“Shut up,” Scar Face demanded in a deep voice dragging him by the arm outside his room.

The halls of the SCP headquarters were brighter than the cell, and it took Toby a moment longer to adjust to the light than he wanted to admit. The halls were made out of white tile. Large, bright lights hung from the ceiling. Screams and screeches echoed off of the walls from the other cells. Everything looked the same. It would be pointless in trying to run now.

Scar Face and Tattoo Dude pulled him through the halls to a giant elevator. Tattoo Dude pushed one of the 26 buttons on the panel. They were all labeled from A to Z. Tattoo Dude had clicked button D. The doors to the elevator quickly opened and Scar-Face shoved him out; his knees hitting the ground.

“Watch it!” Toby hissed. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t feel pain, he was not going to be pushed around by two idiots.

Scar Face pulled him up from the hair and kept on shoving him forward. Floor D was quieter than the other floor, but not by much. Everything else was exactly the same. The SCP headquarters was a maze of rooms. Almost impossible to navigate without a map. This was going to be tougher than he thought. Then again, this was the most secretive government organization in the USA. Not even the CIA or FBI was this secure.

His two personal thugs stopped in front of a door. Tattoo Dude brought out a set of keys and unlocked the door before swinging it open, partially hitting Toby in the side before Scar-Face threw him into the room.

Toby hit the floor with a dull thud and slid a good couple of feet into the room, his hand flew up to his chest as the wind was knocked out of him and he heard himself let out a pathetic sounding wheeze. The room was smaller than his own and had not one, but TWO beds and a single barred window. He did a double-take before flinching back, on one of the beds was Masky, mask-less, in green sweats. Hoody was on the other bed, still wearing his mask, and had a matching outfit. They were both chained to their beds

“wait, Toby?” Hoody exclaimed, his voice filled with worry.

“What’s up?” Toby wheezed, letting himself rest against the cool floor, maybe he could rest his eyes a bit longer...

“You’re alive,” Maskys voice cut in, “Fuck. I thought you were dead.” Under the shock, he looked extremely pissed. Great, it would only be a matter of time before Masky snaps at him and they start to fight.

“Do you really have so little faith in me, Masky?” Toby joked, but as he squinted his eyes open the other two proxies just stared at him; probably soaking in his injuries and state of not being dead.

“How are you alive?” Hoody finally asked and gee did he look that bad?

“I beat the thing that grabbed me to death with a flashlight,” Toby answered. “Why are you here?”

“After you were taken Masky showed up and we chased after you. We heard you calling and tried to find you, but the sewers started to flood. We woke up in this room afterward.”

“Toby gets in fucking trouble and I have to clean up his mess,” Masky scoffed. Wow, it only took him twenty seconds to make a snarky comment; a new record.

Toby narrowed his eye. “It’s not my fault that they kidnapped me.”

“Of course it’s your fault!” Masky exclaimed. “It’s always your fucking fault.”

“How is getting kidnapped my fault?” Toby hissed.

“Maybe if you weren’t so reckless and actually did as I say! Then you wouldn’t have gotten kidnapped.”

Toby scoffed. “Oh, stop acting so high and mighty you piece of shit! You’re in the same situation as me!”

Masky growled. “We got kidnapped trying to save you, you worthless-”

“Masky!” Hoody interrupted him. “Stop picking a fight with Toby.”

“Why is he so pissed off?” Toby asked. He wasn’t a fan of the situation, but he wasn’t picking fights with people. Well, not at the moment.

Hoody shook his head. “Don’t mind him. We’ve been here for a couple of days and he’s going through withdrawal.” Toby looked at Masky closely and noticed that he covered in sweat, his eyes rimmed red. His breathing was shallow. His skin was pale and clammy like he was cold... well now he felt kinda bad  
“Are you okay?”

“Me? I don’t feel a thing. Masky, on the other hand, looks like he’s dying. Withdrawal must be a bitch.”

Masky shot a harsh glare at him. “There is no way I am going to die before you.”

Hoody ignored him. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He repeated slowly as if Toby hadn't understood the first time he asked.

“I- ...don't really wanna talk about it” He finally muttered out, all in all, this wasn't his worse experience but as Hoody beckoned him forward and Toby attempted to get to his feet he felt nothing but pitiful. Both older proxies watched with a careful eye as he stumbled over to the closest bed. It was soft. “Fuck, I wish I got a bed.”

Hoody looked him over. “Dr. Smiley said he’s injecting you with an experimental drug. How are the side effects?”

“You met Dr. Smiley?” Toby asked.

“Yeah,” Masky said. “The guy is an asshole.”

“Yeah,” Toby agreed with Masky for once. “He’s a nut job.”

“That’s saying a lot for a psychopath.”

Toby continued playing the “ignore Masky game.” He stared at the window in the back of the room. It was bright out, he could almost hear birds chirping. Hoody snapped his fingers in his face before putting a hand on his bicep.

“Focus,” he said. “Side effects?”

Toby mentally debated whether he should mention the voices. He didn’t know if Dr. Smiley was eavesdropping on their conversation and he didn’t want to give Dr. Smiley the satisfaction of knowing that his drug succeeded in screwing with Toby’s brain.

“A few things, but nothing you can fix,” Toby replied firmly.

Hoody looked at him, and fuck Toby was glad he had on the mask because Hoody sounded damn near to crying as he nudged at his raw wrist and motioned to the deep bite marks and chunks of skin missing from his hand expectantly. “And?” He pushed.

Toby wanted to brush it off, and just take a nap, but Hoody was persistent and probably wouldn't stop bugging him until he got the truth so with some hesitance he casually mentioned “The voices are back.”

Hoody stared at him, and the room was dead silent, he let his gaze drop to his arm and felt someone gripping his arm. Toby glanced at Masky and saw that his face had gone to an impossible shade of white. “What?” Hoody breathed out.

Toby tried to pull away from the prying hands. “It’s not a big deal-”

“Toby, this is a huge deal,” Hoody stressed.

“Why?”

Hoody went silent for a moment. “Just make sure he doesn’t do anything else to you.” Toby noted to ask him about it later.

Toby ticked. “Um, about that…”

“What did you do?” Masky demanded.

“I kinda made a deal with him,” Toby chuckled nervously.

“What was the deal?” Hoody urged him to say.

“I’d do whatever he said as long as I saw you guys,” Toby ground out... and all chaos let loose

“You idiot!” Masky shouted, lunging forward.

“It was the only way I could make sure you weren’t dead!” Toby defended himself.

“And you decided to trust this maniac?”

“I needed to make sure you weren’t dead!”

“Now you’re going to die from whatever shit this weirdo is gonna do to you.”

“Enough!” Hoody hissed. “What’s done is done. Idiotic, but logical.”

“Thank you,” Toby said, pleased. “Plus, it’s not like I keep promises or anything.”

“You better break this deal,” Masky said in a threatening tone.

Toby smirked. “Have you met me?”

“We need to find a way out of here,” Hoody interrupted them and turned to Masky. “Have you thought of anything?”

“Hard to be the brains of the operation when my brain feels like mush,” Masky sourly replied.

“It would be a waste to find a way out of the rooms,” Toby commented.

“Why?” Hoody asked.

“The buildings is like a giant maze. Impossible to navigate without blueprints,” Toby replied.

“If I remember correctly…” Masky began but stopped to throw up over the head board. He heaved, clutching his stomach, and rested his forehead back on the bed. Hoody reached over to Masky, but the chain stopped him from going near him. Toby frowned in sympathy. He actually looked like he was in a lot of pain. The voices were nothing compared to this.

Masky swallowed loudly. “Every room should have an escape route in case of emergencies.”

“Where is it?” Toby asked, looking around the room.

Masky let out a violent cough. “The switch to activate should be in the Control Room-”

A loud banging on the door cut Masky off. “Strike one! No talking about escape!” Scar Face screamed from the other side. Toby rolled his eyes. Of course, they were listening.

Why wouldn’t they be listening? A voice whispered in his head. It was so quiet that Toby almost missed it. It was the voice of the blonde girl from his dream. Toby jumped up in surprise and looked around. He shouldn’t be hearing voices now.

“Fuck you!” Masky screamed back before he started to throw up again.

“One minute left!” Another voice shouted. Probably Tattoo Dude.

“Toby,” Hoody whispered. “You need to get to that Control Room.”

“Control Room,” Toby repeated. “Got it.”

Scar Face banged on the door again. “Two strikes!”

“I wonder what happens when I reach strike three?” Toby joked. He sighed and leaned against Hoody’s bed. Hoody pulled his foot into his lap and examined his half-healed ankle.

“Let’s not find out,” Hoody drawled sarcastically.

“Why aren’t you going through withdrawal?” Toby asked, his eyes fixated on Hoody’s mask. Masky and Hoody popped pills like addicts. He had only seen a withdrawal once and it was Hoody’s. It was worst than Masky’s withdrawal. Instead of sweating and irritability, Hoody would cough up blood and go into delirium. That’s why Masky always made sure that Hoody would have most of their pill rations. Masky coped with cigarettes, but there were no cigarettes or pills; this was double withdrawal.

“I am,” Hoody replied as he put pressure on his ankle, “just not as fast as Tim. It looks like your ankle isn’t getting any better. Try not to walk on it.”

“Dr. Smiley is probably going to strap me to a table as he slowly destroys my body, so I think I’ll be fine,” Toby replied.

Hoody lightly squeezed his shoulder as a comforting gesture. “Be careful,” he said.

Toby nodded. “I’m always careful,” he sarcastically said. Hoody only stared at him blankly.

The door to the room swung open, making Hoody jump up and to his horror Toby felt himself scoot further up the bed in terror. Scar Face stormed in and shoved Hoodie behind him and took Toby by the hair, dragging him off the bed. His eyes locked with Masky's who was surprisingly at the end of his chains and looked about ready to kill someone.

“Hey!” Toby exclaimed, trying to force up some bravado. “You break it you buy it!”

Scar Face only huffed and roughly dragged him out of the room. “Long live The Operator!” Toby screamed in rebellion.

They dragged him all the way to the elevator and Toby fought the whole way. Whoever said he kept his promises? He saw Masky and Hoody, he got what he wanted. Now it’s time to pick a fight. Scar Face reached over probably to hit him again, but he got just close enough Toby could throw himself forward and bit him in the neck.

Scar Face screamed and tried to rip Toby off, but he was stubborn. He clenched his teeth, digging deeper into his neck. A pair of arms wrap around his midsection and tried to yank him off of Scar Face.

Scar Face screeched as he started to massively bleed from his neck and Toby felt a sick sense of satisfaction as he spit out the chunk of skin and watched with satisfaction as Scar-Face collapsed. He bled all over the elevator and flopped like a fish for air. Tattoo held Toby down and only watched as his colleague died. The elevator doors opened and Tattoo Dude didn’t run to get help like Toby expected. No, instead he hauled Toby over his shoulder and casually left the elevator like Scar Face hadn’t died a minute ago. Now that’s cold, even for Toby’s standards. He would never do that to Masky and Hoody, well, maybe Masky.

Toby tried to get some leverage on Tattoo Dude, but he was on edge. He held Toby with bruising strength and refused to loosen his grip.

“Let me go!” Toby kicked and screamed. “Let me fucking go!”

The assistant didn’t let him go and carried the screaming boy all the way to the lab

The entrance to Dr. Smiley’s lab was two giant metal doors. Red paint was sprayed on the doors and wrote out:

“DR. SMILEY,

RESEARCHER :D”

The inside of the lab was dark and gloomy. The only light available was huge surgical lights that illuminated the gallons of blood that covered the room. Giant cabinets were against the wall and filled with jars of a strange liquid and organs. Toby swore that the eyeballs were blinking. Weapons were hung up on the wall and scattered across metal desks. Tattoo Dude carried him over to a long metal table and strapped him down. He tried to pull his arm out of the bonds.

“Don’t even try, Tobias!” Dr. Smiley exclaimed as he stormed into the lab. His face was red with anger and blood. “You are quite the troublemaker.”

“Did I forget to tell you I’m a biter? Oh well, I’ve always had a craving for human flesh,” Toby said. Which wasn’t exactly a lie. He used to eat the skin off of his hands.

“All you had to do was follow order, Tobias. Was that too hard for you to follow them? huh, Tobias?”

“Masky always said I had a problem with authority,” Toby replied.

“We had a deal!” He hissed.

“Who said I ever kept my promises? Only an idiot would take my-”

Dr. Smiley wrapped his hands around Toby’s neck to silence him. “You broke our deal, Tobias. Now I’m going to break your bones. One by one.”

“I won’t feel it,” Toby choked out.

“I’ll make sure you’ll feel it.” Dr. Smiley let go of him and took out a syringe filled with a green liquid and a tape recorder.

“Session 106. Test subject SCP-0,” Dr. Smiley said into the tape recorder. “SCP-0, Tobias Erin Roger, has a rare disorder called CIPA. I will be testing the three Cs Serums on him to test the effect.” He positioned the the needle in front of his arm and Toby attempted to yank away. “Don’t worry,” Dr. Smiley cooed, “it won’t kill you. Yet.”

Dr. Smiley injected the liquid and Toby immediately felt like he was being shocked by electricity. He arched his back as his lungs contracted, squeezing the air out of him. His heart started to beat like it was trying to escape right out of his chest. Then it stopped, immediately, and went right back to normal.

“Fuck,” Toby gasped when his lungs relaxed. “What… what the fuck is that?”

“Serum C-55,” Dr. Smiley answered. “C-55 typically paralyzes the test subject and causes cardiac arrest. What did you feel, Tobias?”

“I feel like I wanna kill you,” Toby replied. “Oh, wait, I’ve always wanted to kill you.”

Dr. Smiley gritted his sharp teeth. “The test subject is being uncooperative. His heart rate did spike and his blood pressure increased dramatically.” Dr. Smiley took out another syringe, this time it was orange. “Now injecting him with Serum C-27.”

“No,” Toby protested once more as Smiley injected him with the orange liquid.

Toby groaned as his body went numb. It wasn’t the usual numbness that he felt everyday. It was the same numbness he felt in the sewers. He couldn’t feel his body, it was like his brain had disconnected from the rest of him. His entire body went as limp as Scar Face. His brains felt like it was being hit by a hammer and turned into mush. The world around Toby became hazy and all he wanted to do was drown in it.

Toby was immediately ripped out of the world. Dr. Smiley’s cocky face came into view as the world melted back into place. He started to regain feeling in his legs and arms, but they tingled? He could only imagine this is what being burned would feel like; every part of his body was starting to pulse and ache. He had never felt a sensation like this before and sheer terror filled his senses. Toby screamed as the burning spread throughout his body; in his stomach, his heart, his head. It was torture. It was pain.

Toby screamed out as he thrashed around, completely throwing away any dignity he had left. “Stop it! Stop it!” He screamed over and over while Dr. Smiley only watched.

“Serum C-27,” he calmly said. “Typically changes a test subject’s genetic make-up causing them to change hair color, grow extra limbs or awaken hibernating diseases. It seems to be causing SCP-0 to feel pain.”

“Fuck you!” Toby shouted. “Fuck you! You fucking piece of shit! I will end you!”

“You are not in a position to end me, Tobias,” Dr. Smiley said. He was right, but that didn’t stop Toby’s anger.

Toby attempted to pull his hands out of his chains, but everything hurt too much to try to escape and trying to move felt impossible. He wanted this to stop. For the pain to go away. Out of all the stupid shit that has happened to him, this was the worst.

“SCP-0 seems to be having a panic attack,” Dr. Smiley said. “I’m going to inject Serum C-43.” Dr. Smiley took out a syringe filled with a blue liquid. Adrenaline rushed through Toby’s veins.

“No!” Toby screamed, desperately tugging at the chains until one of them snapped.

Dr. Smiley stepped back, eyes wide as he saw Toby snap upwards and off the table. He reached over for a scalpel, but Toby was quicker than him and grabbed a large, butcher’s knife from the closest desk and freed his legs. Thank Master for his proxy strength because the next couple minutes were a blur, between the pain, making him delirious and his fight or flight kicking in Toby didn't come to until blood was gushing down his nose and out of his mouth and the doctor was nowhere to be seen. A harsh screeching soon overwhelmed his senses, and he harshly gripped the metal table to ground himself.

“Dammit,” Toby muttered. Tattoo Dude must have set the alarm off. Toby stumbled out of the lab and was faced with a horrifying scene, even to him. All the doors on the floor were open, SCPs were roaming everywhere. The ones that looked like humans ran away while others latched onto whoever they could and torn into them like tissue paper

“What the hell's going on?” Toby asked as he snatched the arm of the first looking normal guy he saw, the poor dude had long blonde hair and green eyes but nothing strange really jumped out at him. He was slightly overweight with the words “SCP-705” tattooed on his arm.

“He let them all out!” The guy cried with a strange accent. “He’s going to kill us all!” The guy turned and tore his arm out of Toby's grasp and ran away.

“Wait!” Toby called out, but the guy was already gone. Toby ran the other way, making his way through scared employees and giant monsters. He passed a large reptile-like creature with no skin on its head. The rest of its long body looked like it was covered with shit you would find in the shower drain and rotting, green skin. “SCP-682” was written on its upper lip, right above its rotting teeth. Something caught his ankle and fuck did falling hurt like a bitch,

slamming into the ground wasn't near as fun as it used to be and looked down hoped he hadn’t tripped over a dangerous SCP. A clear box with pink play-doh. The lid was labeled SCP-795. Toby picked up the box and opened it. A box of play-doh was an SCP? Seriously?

The play-doh then started to move. Toby dropped the box and the play-doh crawled out. Toby scrambled away from the play-doh as it started to shape itself.

It formed into a pink man that was about 3 feet tall. The man then split, creating two and then kept on splitting until there was at least fifty of them. Their faces were sculpted into finer detail and they were decorated with hats and belts. Rifles formed in their hands and they became solid statues. They crowded the halls, at least a dozen of them had their eyes trained on Toby. They were pink toy soldiers. The same type Toby had in his room. And yes, even proxies have toys.

“This is messed up,” 

The soldiers pointed their guns at his heart and watched him with steady eyes. The other three dozen in the back turned towards the other SCPs and started shooting them.

“Back in your cage soldier,” One of the soldiers said.

“I’m not a soldier,” Toby tried to reason but the soldier took a step towards him, positioning the gun right in front of Toby’s face.

“You will listen to the commands of Dr. Bright,” he said.

“Sorry, I’ve already got a crazy psychopath doctor,” Toby retorted. The soldier growled and pistol-whipped him across the face.

“Motherfucker,” he yelped.

“Stand up soldier,” the thing said mockingly, seeming to pay no mind to Toby injuries...

Pain. The word was bitter in his thoughts. He had always teased people about their pain, but now he was the one in pain. Fucking karma.

He grit his teeth and lunged to his feet, kicking the soldier square in the chest before booking it towards the elevator.

The soldiers started shooting, but most of them had terrible aim. Most. A soldier did manage to shoot Toby in the shoulder with one of its clay bullets. Toby cried out and staggered, but he moved through the pain. He needed to get to Hoody and Masky, and find Master; he could make this better.

The elevator was in his sight. Toby sped up, he would be safe in there. He heard another bang and felt a deep, searing pain in back of his shin. Toby stumbled to the ground and used his elbows to crawl to the elevator. It was only a few feet away.

Another shot, this time in his lower back. Toby collapsed in pain. It was too much for him. Toby had gone through so many things. Hallucinations, periods of insanity, memory loss, etcetera, but he couldn’t handle actual physical pain.

Toby’s vision faded away as everything got worst. Toby reached over to the elevator button with all his strength. He wasn’t going to pass out again, he kept on telling himself. He was done passing out. He needed to find a way out before Dr. Smiley or those damn soldiers tried to kill him.

The elevator door slid open but there was already something inside, he saw a pair of black, knee-high boots and the sound of bullets, this time from a revolver, not a rifle. The figure in the elevator grabbed an arm and hauled him inside the elevator. They were wearing a furry green coat and had long brown hair. The person shot more rounds into the crowd of soldiers until the elevator door closed.

Everything was blurry but as the figure sat him up and he got a look at their face.

“Clocky?” Toby said in shock.

Clockwork smiled before clapping him on the shoulder. 

“Hey, babe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to the people that read the last chapter! I hope this one lives up to the last and that everyone enjoys!


	3. Running out of Time

The elevator floor felt cool against his hot skin, was he hallucinating, or was she actually here? “What are you doing?” Toby heard himself ask, but even his own voice sounded far away.

“Saving your ass,” she quipped back, a Cheshire grin spread across her face. Clockwork, or Clocky, was Toby’s kinda girlfriend of one year. He hadn’t seen her since he went to Texas a couple of months back. Clocky was a creepypasta, the only creepypasta that Toby had ever genuinely talked to.

“How did you know I was here?” Toby muttered as his head lolled to the side, it was getting harder and harder to focus and he felt clockwork pull him up and duck under his arm to help support almost his entire weight. She grimaced but quickly smoothed out her features when he caught her eye, Toby couldn't tell if her mood was because of how light he felt after months of imprisonment or if it was the thought of cleaning blood out of her jacket.

“Word on the streets says that the SCPs kidnapped Slendy’s bitches,” she said. “I knew I had to go and rescue you like the good gal-pal I am.”

Toby gently ignored the fact that she called him a bitch in favor of stepping on her foot. “But-but-” Toby shut his mouth when he heard himself stutter. He shouldn’t be stuttering. He stopped stuttering a while ago because of Master. There’s no reason for him to start stuttering unless Master is gone... and Master is absolute.

“Don’t worry, sweetie,” she assured him. Toby opened his mouth to say something but instead, he groaned in pain. “Toby? Are you okay?”

“It… hurts,” he actually whimpered and oh God wasn't that mortifying.

She looked at him confused. “Wait, are you in actual pain?” Toby nodded his head once before leaning a bit heavier into Clocky and tried to block out her appalled rambling. “How are you even in pain?”

“Dr. Smiley… experiments… strange liquids,” he explained between breaths.

She reached over to her satchel and pulled out an orange bottle. She popped open the cap and gave him four white pills. “This should help the pain.”

“T-thank… you,” he said and took the pills. He screwed his eyes shut and swallowed a handful of the pills dry like someone flicked a switch, the pain was gone. Just like that. “Woah, it’s... I feel fine now”

“It.. shouldn’t have been that quick,” she stated, looking once again at the bottle of pills then closely into his eyes, "Did you hit your head on anything?"

Toby barely had time to feel affronted at her questioning stare but when she held up a finger to check for a concussion he about had it, " I honestly don't know why anything is doing anything anymore, so can we please fucking drop it?" and okay, maybe snapping at his savior wasn't the right move because now Clockwork was moving away to have him stand on his own and well the pills worked but he still didn't exactly feel tip-top...

“Maybe it’s temporary,” he offered carefully, trying a tactical backtrack to get her to come back and help him

She looked skeptical but let out a sight before moving back. “Maybe, but be careful.” She clicked one of the buttons on elevator.

“Where are we going?”

“Home,” she answered.

“We can’t go home yet,” he told her and reached over to click the button labeled Floor D.

“Why not?” She asked, sounding a little ticked off, and pushed the main floor button again.

“We have to get Masky and Hoody,” he said. Her face visibly darkens.

“Why?” She bitterly asked.

He ignored her sudden change in attitude. “Because Master will kill me if I let them die.”

“Why don’t you just leave then?” She asked. He mentally kicked himself, not this argument again.

“We’ve talked about this. I’m not leaving Master,” he replied.

“Why?” She stubbornly asked again. “Why can’t you go with me?”

“Because he saved my life,” he answered. He pushed the Floor D button again, but Clocky immediately pushed the other one. “Stop it! I leave with them or I don’t leave.”

“Fine,” she bitterly said and clicked the button. “Great to see where your priorities lie.” 

“Yeah,” he muttered to himself... Clocky and Masky ...don’t mix well. Toby didn’t know why, but they’re always just hated each other. He tried making peace, but peace wasn’t really something he was good at, so they just said bitter words and sometimes tried to kill each other.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Floor D is less crowded but somehow bloodier than the floor they were just on. Dead SCPs decorated the floor and colorful blood covered the walls. The smell of rotting corpses hung in the air and Toby almost gagged. What was wrong with him?

“Come on,” he urged as they stepped in time off the elevator, 

He faintly remembered the layout of the floor and managed to find Hoody and Masky’s cell. They weren’t in the cell, but it didn’t look like they were dead. The room was a thousand time cleaner than the hall and there were no signs of a struggle Toby noted with releif.

“Where could they be?” She asked, sounding extremely bitter.

“I-I don’t know,” he said then bit his tongue. He needed to get control over himself!

Toby continued down the hall, trying to find his fellow proxies. He stopped in his tracks when he heard the sound of something, definitely not human, screaming.

“Fucking freaks of nature,” he heard Masky say and the sound of a knife cutting skin.

Toby turned and saw Masky and Hoody standing over a dead corpse. He could barely recognize what the thing was as it started to melt away.

They both were covered in blood and had multiple cuts all over them. Toby began the slow shuffle towards them, dragging Clockwork along. At the sound of intruders, the two looked up and Toby could visibly see a weight leave his friend's shoulders at the sight of him. 

“Masky. Hoody,” Toby breathed out, extending a hand into the air of his partner's direction and watched as they both moved forward

“Toby,” Hoody said with a hint of relief reaching out to clasp his hand he felt himself get tugged forward away from clockwork and into hoodies waiting arms, the itch at the back of his mind seemed to clear a bit and he realized Masky was in front of them, or well more of between him and Clockwork.

“What’s she doing here?” Masky sneered. 

“She saved me from dying,” he said.

“Of course, you’d need saving,” he snarled.

“Fuck you, Assky,” Clocky said.

He took a step towards her and Hoody had to fold him back. “Stop,” he said and turned to Clocky. “Excuse Masky. Thank you for helping Toby and letting us out.”

“I didn’t let you out,” she said.

“Neither did I,” Toby piped.

“Then who did?” Hoody asked.

“I don’t know, but it can’t be good,” he said. “A few of the SCPs were freaking out about the person that let them out. Said that he was going to kill them all.”

“Who’s ‘he’?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she interjected. “We need to get out of here.”

“We can’t leave,” Masky said.

“Why? Because I want to leave?” She asked.

“Not everything is about you, bitch,” he hissed. “We need to figure out what is going on.”

“No, we don’t. We need to leave,” she insisted. “Unless you wanna got slaughtered.”

“We can’t leave until we get the Observer,” he stated. “We are on a mission.”

Oh, yeah, Toby thought. He forgot they were on an actual mission. “He’s right,” Toby agreed. “We have to get the Observer and stop him from kidnapping proxies.”

“We can do that later,” Hoody, surprisingly, argued. “There’s too much chaos, there is no way the Observer is still here.”

“Master will have our head,” Toby responded.

“He wouldn’t if you would just-” Clocky started to say.

“I said no, Natalie!” Toby growled. Clocky glared at him, but stayed silent. Using her first name usually led to winning by default, but he didn’t use it very often.

“I don’t care,” Hoody said. “Not dying is more important than pleasing Master.”

“We won’t have a chance of living if we go back empty-handed,” Masky seethed. “We need to-”

“What?” Hoody asked. “Run around this building like madmen and get killed by SCPs?”

“Hoody’s right-” Clocky commended.

“You’re not in this conversation!” Masky growled. “You’re not a fucking proxy.”

“I’m not, but I’m a serial killer and I know had to skin a body alive, so you better watch your mouth,” she threatened him.

“Like you can actually kill me,” he scoffed. Toby watched them argue, it was almost like a ping pong argument. He learned a long time ago not to get involved in their quarrels. It was more of a power struggle thing. They’re both hot-headed, power-hungry killers, so their fights get a little too real a little too quick.

He continued to watch their arguments when something catches his eye. There was a small air vent not too far from them. It looked like a normal air vent except for the fact that pink goop was leaking out of it.

“Guys…” Toby said in a warning tone. The goop piled up on the floor and started to build up, taking a form. “Guys.”

The two continued to argue, but Hoody took notice and followed Toby’s line of sight. The pink goop started to solidify and Toby immediately recognized it.

“We need to go,” Hoody said, cutting them off. He grabbed Masky’s arm and started to run the other way.

“Fuck,” Clocky said when she saw the goop and followed in suit. Every air vent on the floor started to leak pink goop as well. Could Toby not get a break?

“Halt!” He heard a soldier scream from behind him.

“Hurry!” Toby screamed. “Before they shoot.”

The memory of the three bullets flashed in his mind and he shivered. He didn’t feel pain now, the serum was probably temporary, but that didn’t reassure his fear.

They ran into the elevator and Toby immediately closed the door. He pushed the down button and tried to regain his breath.

“What the fuck was that?” Masky inquired.

“SCP-795,” he answered.

“You will stand down, SCP-0!” The SCP screamed.

“SCP-0?” Masky asked.

“Don’t ask,” he said. “It’s all a very long story.”

“You were only gone for twenty minutes,” Hoody commented.

Toby shook his head. He never felt so afraid in his life and he tried to shake it off, but he couldn’t. He was actually scared of these mutant freaks. Is this why Hoody and Masky thought things through and made plans? Because they didn’t want to get hurt?

He was ready to tell him the entire story, but the elevator shook. He grabbed the elevator railing. “W-what th-the fu-uck?” he squeaked.

“Those fuckers are trying to get in,” Masky said.

“Give us SCP-0, now,” The soldier screamed.

“Not happening,” Hoody screamed back.

“What the fuck do th-they wa-want with me?” Toby stuttered and he bit his tongue again. He needed to calm down, like now.

“He-he-!” Toby exclaimed but was cut off by the elevator shaking again. It kept on shaking until he heard something snap and suddenly they were plummeting to their death. He screamed and held on to the railing as he was lifted in the air.

Clocky clung to him, screaming her head off. They were all screaming and all he could do was panic. He refused to die this way. He swore he’d go out guns blazing, not in an elevator crash while having a panic attack.

He reached over to the buttons and slammed the red emergency stop button. The elevator halted with a screech and he hit the floor with a thump! The doors immediately opened and he found himself somewhere that they definitely weren’t allowed to be.

Toby sat up and looked outside the elevator. The elevator screen read Floor -A and he made sure he wasn’t reading it wrong. Outside the elevator looked vaguely like an underground cave system. Giant lights hung from the ceiling and blinded Toby. The floor was made out of steel grates and it reeked of mildew

“Negative A?” Masky groaned when he got off the floor. “How the fuck is that possible?”

“We’re in the basement,” Clocky replied, letting go of Toby.

“This place doesn’t have a basement,” he claimed.

“Says who?” She sassed.

“Says the blueprints,” he argued.

“Then you got shitty blueprints.”

“Shut the fuck up you-”

“I will shoot both of you if you don’t shut up!” Hoody exclaimed, clutching his head.

“Let’s just get the fuck out of here,” Toby agreed, not wanting another argument. Clocky silently fumed, but did walk out of the elevator. He scrambled to his feet and followed her. The other two complied.

The sound of heavy metal hitting against each other filled the air and screaming. The cave didn’t have many options in terms of direction like the sewer system. It was straight and it relieved and scared him at the same time.

They soon reached the end of the tunnel and found themselves at a catwalk. They walked along the catwalk and Toby gripped the side when he saw an abyss under it. It kinda reminded him of the mission he had at the Grand Canyon.

“We should go back to the elevator,” Masky said.

“Not with those little fuckers trying to kill us,” Hoody responded and urged him to keep walking.

They reached ground again and Toby could breath a little bit more. That is until the cave becomes brighter and brighter, almost blinding him. They enter another section of the cave, this time the walls were completely made out of metal and the screaming was closer.

They find themselves above a lab with multiple supercomputers. Giant capsules are scattered all over the room, filled with people, each of them having its own control panel. It took Toby a second to realize that the people in the capsules weren’t people, but creepypastas and proxies. He recognized Laughing Jack, Seed Eater, and faintly remembered some of the proxies, but none of them stuck out. The only person--were they considered as people?-- that wasn’t in a capsule was a man. The man was short, probably shorter than Toby, wearing casual clothes. He had dark skin and long, shaggy hair. He wore square glasses and a chubby face.

He was typing with one of the supercomputers, his hands moving as fast as lightning.

“Yes, yes,” He mumbled.

A young man wearing a black hoody and a blue mask kept on pounding his capsule. His mask had no mouth or nose, but black tar streaming down his face from the eyes. It was Eyeless Jack. He was the only creepypasta that seemed conscious.

“Let go of me!” He screamed, his voice sounding deep and demonic. “Let me go now!”

“I don’t think I can do that, lovely,” the man said, his voice rolling like gravel. All of the proxies immediately crouched. “We’re not done yet.”

“Done with what, motherfucker?!” He hissed. The man typed in something else and one of the cabinets in the lab opened. He reached into the cabinet and took out a canister.

“My little experiment,” he explained and walked over to the capsule. “You see, creepypastas aren’t just serial killers. No, they’re more than that. You’re a new level of crazy that no human can ever reach. Ever wonder what makes you tick?”

“No! Stop it!” He screeched. The man took the canister and connected it to the base of the capsule. The capsule was immediately filled with green gas. Eyeless Jack kept on screaming and clawing at the capsule.

“Now is the time for questions,” the man said. “Answer honestly and I’ll turn the gas off.”

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Just turn it off!” The creepypasta practically begged.

“Why do you murder people?” He asked.

“I don’t know!”

“That’s not a very valid answer…”

“I really don’t know!” He hollered. “I do it because I want to!”

“Okay. Why did you start murdering people?”

“I don’t know!” The man pressed a button on the control panel and more gas started pouring in. “They betrayed me! And I just snapped! They-they needed to pay!”

“You mean the cult that tried to sacrifice you?” Eyeless Jack nodded rapidly. “Ugh! This is boring! Tell me something I don’t already know! Why are you so hard to kill?”

“I don’t know. Please, I don’t fucking know. It’s always been like this!” Eyeless Jack sobbed. Toby just watched in awe. How painful is that gas if it makes Eyeless Jack fall into tears?

“Fine,” the man groaned and he turned off the gas.

Eyeless Jack fell to the ground, clutching his stomach. “I’m going to kill you,” he sobbed over and over.

“Lovely, you’re in no position to kill anyone,” the man teased. “For years I’ve been watching you creatures destroy the earth. No mortal is capable of control you freaks of nature, but I finally found a way.” He laughed. “You know what I can do with an army of creepypastas?”

Toby stared on in shock at the scene below him. An army of creepypasta? This man could rule the world with just a dozen of them. He would destroy it with an army. Plus the proxies? He had way more creepypastas and proxies than listed on the file. He can have thousands of more in the lower levels.

The man continued to laugh and Toby suddenly felt a burning sensation on his back. He gritted his teeth and grabbed onto the nearest person's sleeve as it started to spread through his body.

“Toby?” Clocky whispered, reaching back out to him.

Toby let out a silent cry as his body tensed and erupted in flames. It felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing him all over. He let out another cry, but this time it wasn’t silent. He fell over, the catwalk rattled and shifted, and he went right through the floor.

“Toby!” He heard Clocky scream out. He temporarily blacked out from the pain when his back hit the floor and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, why is this pain was worst than the one he felt earlier?

“Who do we have here?” He heard the man ask.

“oh! hello, Tobias,” the man said.

“Stay away from him!” someone from above screamed.

“Timothy, Brian, Natalie,” he said, nodding at the three of them. Masky and Hoody jumped down from the catwalk, landing perfectly on their feet and pointing their weapons at him. “I don’t think that is very necessary.”

“Step away from him,” Masky ordered him. The man stepped back a few steps and gave a low whistle. Out of the shadows crawled five emaciated, near-naked men. They were all skin and bones with wide eyes and huge mouths. In an odd way, they resembled the rake, just fresher? Their skin was barely hanging on to their bones and many of them had an open stomach and were missing bones. 

“Meet my little pets,” gesturing to the creatures, the man continued. “I knew something useful would come out of that sleeping experiment in Russia, but I never imagined these beauties.”

“Who are you?” Masked asked, pointing his knife at whatever those fucking things are,

“I am the Observer,” he said. “And I am going to kill your master.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The creepypasta fandom is one of my first fandoms, I forgot how all over the place I was when this was written because geeze, if you're interested in the original 2016 version of this go hunt around on quotev...


	4. Paralyzer

When he was briefed on the Observer he imagined a being similar to his own master, not a human, and much less one like this guy. Toby openly stared at the homeless-looking man in shock. He expected a human in a business suit and speaking all scholarly, not a guy wearing jeans with long matted hair.

He was in such shock with the revelation that when one of the creatures suddenly appeared right in his face Tobys breath got caught in his throat and he felt his body lock up, unlike the SCP'S in the hall during their escape, there weren’t wearing any numbers on these guys. They snarled and damp fingers grazed Toby’s skin, but he could do nothing to stop them. He still couldn’t move without causing another wave of pain to overcome him. The next thing he knew he heard what must have been a battle cry and suddenly the being was being kicked off him, Masky was outlined above him doing his best to swat the monsters away.

“No fucking way,” Masky said.

“It’s true, Timothy,” the Observer said.

“Then this is one hell of a coincidence,” he said. “We’ve been looking for you.”

The Observer laughed. “Oh, this isn’t a coincidence, Timothy, I brought you here.”

“Stop calling me that,” he growled.

“Why? It is your name,” he replied.

“No. It. Isn’t.” He said.

“Oh, I forgot. That’s the other guy's name,” he casually said. “Or are you the other guy? ‘Cause, technically, Timothy was there first. Isn’t that right, Brian?”

Toby felt Hoody freeze next to him. “How do you know his name?” Masky asked.

“I’ve been keeping tabs on you since Timothy turned five,” he explained. “You can say I know a lot about you. Especially on little Tobias.” He looked down at Toby. “How are you doing there buddy?”

Toby let out a strangled cry. “Don’t worry,” the Observer said. “It should only last for a couple of minutes.”

“What will only last for a couple of minutes? What did you do to him?” Hoody demanded to know.

“Me? I did nothing to the freak,” he replied. “Little Tobias here is in pain, courtesy of Dr. Smiley.”

“Pain…” his voice trailed off and he looked at Toby with disbelief. “That’s not possible. He can’t feel pain.”

“Oh contrary,” he disagreed. “Anything is possible in SCP land.”

Toby let out another scream and felt a couple of stray tears when the monster got him in the bad ankle.

“Fuck off,” Masky screamed, stabbing it in the shoulder. The monster didn’t even flinch and lashed out at Masky. He managed to dodge its long nails, but it was a close call.

“What the fuck are these things?” Hoody asked, voice high with terror as he slightly backed away.

“My little pets,” he said. “Didn’t I already say this?”

“Hard to listen to you over Toby’s scream,” Masky sarcastically replied. “Wanna call them off?”

“Seeing that you’re trying to kill me, I’ll pass,” he said.

“Smart,” Masky commented.

“I am very smart. Your Master saw that a long time ago,” he remarked. “That’s why he made me his little agent.”

“Agent?” Toby asked, his voice straining.

“The original servants of Master,” Masky answered.

“You know, his right-hand man of sorts,” The Observer pointed out.

“That’s not possible,” Hoody stated.

“Why not? Am I not awesome enough?” He teased.

“All the agents were killed ten years ago,” he responded.

“How do you know that?” He questioned.

Hoody hesitated for a moment. “I know because I saw all of them burned,” he finally explained. Toby could hear his blood boiling.

“Of course,” the Observer’s nose wrinkled in disgust, “the day that thing burned my brothers was the day the proxies were born.”

The pain started to wane and only become an intense throbbing. Toby fought through the pain and sat up. He didn’t understand what was going on. Why didn’t he know about the agents? He knew that he wasn’t the smartest out of all of them, but he wasn’t stupid. It seemed like legit information he needed to know.

“Well, some of them weren’t burned, isn’t that right, Miles?” The Observer asked. “I escaped and so did you. Too bad your Master caught you before you could truly be free.”

“What is he talking about, Hoody?” Toby managed to choke out.

“They don’t know?” The Observer asked, feigning innocence. “Did you not tell them, Miles?” Hoody awkwardly shifted, his grip on his weaponing tightening.

“Hoody, who’s Miles?” Masky asked.

“Shut. Up.” Hoody growled and Toby never heard Hoody sound so mad before. “He’s a liar! He’s fucking lying.”

“Of course you’d lie,” the Observer scoffed. “Ole Miles, the perfect soldier, the loyalist. Only sticks up for his Master, never for his siblings.”

“Shut the fuck up!”

“You know, I was surprised when I found out you had taken a new vessel, not your old one. Brian Thomas, right? Why did you pick him? Because of Timothy?” He continued.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hoody said.

“I don’t?” He sarcastically asked. “‘Cause I thought you picked Brian because he was getting close to Timothy. You know Tim, the first proxy.”

“Brian! Tell me what’s going on, now!” Masky ordered him, his face slightly red. He looked confused and it didn’t match his face very well.

“I…” His voice trailed off. “Don’t believe him, Tim. He’s crazy.”

“Really? Because I thought the one that ratted out his friends was the crazy one,” the Observer said.

“I didn’t betray you,” Hoody denied.

“Yes, you did! And they were burned! They were burned for your betrayal! How do you stay loyal to a creature that uses you?” He hissed.

“If I don’t follow him then I die!”

“No,” he shook his head. “It’s more than that, dog.”

A look of understanding passed over Masky’s face. “You were an agent of Slenderman,” he stated.

“Bingo!” The Observer exclaimed. “You’re smarter than you look, Timothy.”

“Shut up and stop calling me Timothy!” He ordered him. He turned to Hoody, betrayal clearly written on his face.

“How could you not tell us?” Toby asked, shocked.

“I can explain-” Hoody started to say.

“Explain later,” Masky cut him off. “Let’s just kill this freak and get out of here.”

“We can’t kill him,” he said.

“I don’t care!” He screamed. “This motherfucker is agitating and I want to get out of here.”

“Do you really think you can kill me?” The Observer asked in a teasing tone. “Remember, you’re in my territory. I could’ve had all of you severely tortured, but I decided to let you be.”

“Ahem,” Toby said, feeling left out of the conversation

The Observer waved him off. “You were collateral damage, or maybe not, I have to watch at least one of Slendy’s favorites suffer.”

“Fuck you,” he growled and he was used to the pain. His joints still throbbed if he moved them, but it was bearable. “You don’t want to piss me off.”

“Why? You’ll kill me? I’d like to see you try,” he baited him.

Toby got off the floor. “Be careful what you wish for,” The monsters barked at him and one leaped at him.

“Oh, no you don’t!” He heard Clocky say and he completely forgot that Clocky was still on the catwalk. Clocky jumped off the catwalk, landing right on top of the monster and jamming her knife in its head. “Heads up,” she said, taking out the weapon and tossing it to Toby.

He clumsily caught the knife and watched in awe as she jumped on top of another monster, that was going after Masky, and shot it in the head.

One of them leaped towards Toby and he stabbed it right through the head. It went through its skull-like butter and fell to the ground. “Die, you zombie freak!” He screamed and started to laugh.

Masky and Hoody easily killed off the other two monsters and they all turned towards the Observer. The man didn’t look scared. He actually looked amused, like killing his guard dogs was a game, and he even started clapping

“What are you smiling about?” Masky asked. “Now, there’s nothing to stop me from skinning you alive.”

His clapping ceased. “Did you really think I’d let those pesky little things be my only protection? No, I have more for you to go through, Miles.”

“Miles isn’t here,” Hoody said.

“Right, it’s Hoody now. Who thought of such a ridiculous name?” He asked. Toby glared at him. He had come up with the names Masky and Hoody when he first met them. They refused to give him their names. They always had this silent communication thing going on and Toby was never part of it. So, one day, he called them Masky and Hoody because, despite both of them wearing masks, he needed a way to talk to them. The names kinda caught on after that. Except for Hoody because he only calls Masky by his real name.

“Can I skin him alive?” Toby asked Masky. He took a step towards the Observer.

“I wouldn’t do that,” the Observer said. “Not until you meet my boys.” He put his fingers in his mouth and made a whistling sound.

“Yes, Master,” Toby heard from behind him. He turned to see two figures in the shadows. They walked towards them like robots and Toby’s blood froze when he saw who it was.

The first figure was a teenage boy, probably sixteen years old, in a bloody white hoody and carrying a shiny knife. He had long, rugged black hair and round, blue eyes. What really stood out about the boy was his face. It had blotchy, white spots all over it and he had a permanent smile cut into his face. He looked too happy to be covered in blood and it creeped Toby out.

“Jeff?” Clocky said in shock.

“You know him?” Toby asked.

“Who doesn’t? It’s Jeff the Killer.” Toby heard about Jeff the Killer. He was labeled as the creepypasta that started it all. He was the first one that went completely nuts and his body count went up to the thousands.

“No way…” Hoody said in disbelief. He turned to the Observer. “You don’t have the power to contain him! Not even Master has that.”

“As you’ll see, Miles, I am much more powerful than I seem. Why wouldn’t I be? I have no strings on me,” he said. “That’s what free will does. It makes room for improvements. Ha! If this had been twenty years ago, your Master would’ve shut it down immediately.”

“He’ll stop you,” he said.

“Really? Don’t you think he would have already done it?” Hoody opened his mouth to answer, but the sound of claws scraping against metal cut him off.

It took Toby a moment to realize that the second figure wasn’t even human. It looked similar to the monster he just killed, but slightly different. It had sharp white teeth and giant black holes for eyes. It’s skin was tight and it almost looked like a naked cross between a human and a dog. This one Toby knew immediately.

“The Rake.” There was only one thing Toby was afraid of before he felt pain and it was the Rake. He saw the Rake twice. The first time was while they were passing by a city and the second time had been in the same city. He watched it rip a man to shreds in seconds and soon after devoured it. That memory still brought him nightmares.

The Rake took another step forward, its black eyes staring right at him. It just had to be him, didn’t it? He stepped back immediately.

“Fuck,” Masky cursed. “Okay, then, plan B.”

“We had a plan?” Toby asked. Masky didn’t even bother to shoot him a glare.

“Team psychopaths take on Jeff and team sociopaths take on the Rake,” he explained.

“Am I on team psychopath?” He asked. He let out a sigh of relief when Masky nodded his head.

“I should’ve brought popcorn,” the Observer said. “Serial Killer vs. Serial Killer. How interesting.”

“You’re next, four eyes,” Hoody growled.

“First live, then talk.”

Jeff stopped right in front Toby. He was close enough that Toby could see his burnt chipping skin.

“Dude, you should get that checked out,” Toby teased... right before Jeff shot his arm out, grabbing Toby by the throat and lifted him in the air without faltering. Okay, so holy fuck was this guy the knock off winter soldier or something because there is no way he should have that ability. He started to swing Clocky's knife frantically, hoping to spill some guts before he stopped breathing. Just as black spots started to enter his vision Jeff threw him across the room.

As his back hit one of the supercomputers he was so happy that he had gone back to his CIPA self.

“Toby!” Clocky screamed and aimed her gun at Jeff, she could only fire off a single shot before Jeff was on her and ripping the gun clean from her hands and literally crushed it like a ball of paper and threw it behind him. He took her arm and all in one movement threw her over his shoulder and twisted her around by the throat and positioned the knife at her jugular.

“Don’t kill them,” the Observer ordered them. Jeff tilted his head and picked her up instead. He threw her to the other side of the room. She let out a cry as she hit the capsules, Toby winced in sympathy ohh that had to hurt.

As Jeff started to advance on Clocky, who still hadn't gotten up, Toby jumped up and sprinted towards him aiming to take him out with a tackle, Hitting Jeff was like running into a brick wall, nothing seemed to affect him and he barely had to move to dodge Toby's fist. The next thing he knew His knife was being forced from his grip and sliding between his ribs. 

Toby didn’t even flinch and instead kneed Jeff in the stomach. His attacker finally stumbled back and groaned.

“Why aren’t you screaming?” Jeff demanded, his voice deep and rough like he had a sore throat. Yet, it was almost robotic, like there was no life or meaning behind his words.

“I can’t feel pain, bitch,” Toby replied, removing the knife from his side and twisting the bloody blade in his hands. Jeff smiled, which was extremely creepy, and swung his own knife. Toby ducked and rolled out of the way.

He stabbed Jeff on the left side between his second and third ribs. Jeff howled and pistol-whipped him across the face, except well with a knife. The next thing Toby knew he was on the ground and had a foot pressed against his neck. For the second time in 10 minutes, his windpipe was being crushed, and as he reached up to scratch in vain at Jeffs's ankle his captor leaned over and caught his arm in a bruising grip.

He saw Clocky quickly closing in behind Jeff, anger in her eyes, and holding a metal chair. She smashed the chair over Jeff’s head and he stumbled forward. The chair didn’t knock him out, but it definitely left him slightly disorientated, allowing Toby to throw his weight upward and finally catch a breath. Jeff stumbled to the side holding his head as blood ran down a gash in his forehead, taking advantage while he could Toby swung forward and grabbed his knife once more before burying it up to the hilt in Jeffs's back, in retaliation he got an elbow in the temple that put him right back on the floor.

Clocky was scrambling at his back but Jeff didn't hesitate to take him by the collar and start smashing his head against the ground over and over.

He could barely register what was going on other than the wet crunching of his skull. He couldn’t exactly feel the action, but he couldn’t get out of it. Jeff’s grip on him was too strong. All he could see was red and he knew that wasn’t good. He tried to plant his feet on the ground to get some leverage but he couldn't tell which way was up at this point.

“Bitch!” Jeff suddenly yelped and dropped him. Toby saw double and could feel the blood falling down his face. He wiped the blood out of his eyes and his vision became one. To get his attention off of Toby it looked like Clocky had stabbed Jeff right between the shoulder blades, blood had sprayed back but she wasn't looking at Jeff, she was looking at him, with the most terror he had ever seen on her face. 

He barely registered what happened when Jeff took his knife and slit Clocky’s throat.

The sound that left his throat was hardly human as he watched his best friend crumple to the ground making choking noises as she clutched her neck, blood spilled between her fingers and Toby saw red all over again, he twisted his body around and swept Jeffs feet out before climbing on top of him and starting the maul, his fingers grabbed the top of Jeffs jaw and he started smashing his head against the pavement in sick retaliation, biting whatever he could and clawing at his eyes. 

Toby knew he couldn’t waste time on killing this guy, not when Clocky was dying, so stumbled up and dragged him to one of the empty capsules and pressed the big “open” button. The capsule door swung wide and without a second thought, he threw Jeff in there.

“Hey!” Jeff yelled when the capsule closed.

“Shut the fuck up!” Toby screamed and hit a fist against the capsule once for good measure, before running towards Clockys collapsed form and collapsing next to her, his hands flew to cover her own and he felt faint as her blood pulsed out weakly between her fingers "Don't worry Toby, he missed my carotid artery, I'll be fine" Pulling her forward into a hug Toby felt his heartache, because fuck that was close and an experienced killer like Jeff, shouldn't have cut that lightly...

The sound of Masky screaming broke through the haze and Toby shot up once again, Clocky tried to join him but Toby motioned for her to stay down.

Rake’s claws were pinning Masky to the ground, he was kicking the thing in the chest but nothing seemed to faze it...

Both Hoody and the Observer were nowhere to be seen, leaving Masky to fight the Rake by himself.

Fear of facing the Rake filled him, but, for once, he had a plan. Man, he was filled with them today, wasn’t he? Toby ran in front of one of the empty capsules. He opened it and turned back to the Rake.

Toby put his fingers in his mouth and whistled, just as the Observer had previously, and like Pavlov's dog the thing whipped its head towards him. “Hey!” He called out. “Come at me you, naked freak!” Okay, even Toby had to admit that was a lame insult, but it worked.

The Rake snarled at him, pulling its claws out of Masky. It crouched down and lunged at him. He barely had time to duck, its claws grazing his back. The capsule closed, trapping the Rake, and Toby let out a whoop! Mission accomplished.

He ran to Masky and grabbed an arm pulling him up. Masky let out a choked scream and groaned in pain, but he let Toby tuck under his arm and help him. It was a weird experience for Toby since Hoody was always the one help Masky, not him, but Hoody had abandoned... him... Them?

“We need to go,” Masky said between gritted teeth and suddenly Tim got a lot lighter, he glanced over and Clocky was on the other side of Tim, holding him up, even with the blood down her chest she was helping them...

“What about Hoody?” Toby questioned, looking around for their friend.

“Leave the fucking traitor,” Masky bitterly replied. Apart of him wanted to tell him, no, but a bigger part knew that he was right. Hoody lied about a hidden past and then left, making Masky face one of the most creepypastas in history. 

The Hoody he knew for two years would never do that... right?

“How do we get out of here?” Toby asked.

“We need to go back to the elevator,” he said.

“No!” He exclaimed. “Those things can still be there.”

“You got a better plan.” Toby stayed silent. “I thought so.”

Clocky jumped up to grab the ladder release so they could get back to the catwalk, Toby was having trouble doing the same thing while pretty much carrying Masky. “Need a hand?” She joked.

“Yeah,” Toby said, struggling to play along. She noticed this and silently helped Masky up the catwalk. The next twenty minutes were spent in silence.

Toby hated silence. All he wanted to do was scream to fill the silence, but he didn’t want to freak them out. Masky silently brooded next to him, deep in thought. He was probably thinking about Hoody. Who wouldn’t be thinking about Hoody?

The guy had just up and left them the second his secret came out. Like, what the fuck? Even he wouldn’t do that and he hated Masky. Hoody and Masky were a thick as thieves, always doing things together, but he saw that bond fizzle away the second Masky realized that Hoody lied to him. They may hate each other, but they don’t lie to each other; they never lied to each other.

Now, everything was awkward. The one thing that connected Toby and Masky, and stopped them from killing each other, had been a fraud. And without Masky’s biased anger it seemed like he didn’t know how to act towards Toby.

The catwalk suddenly shook and Toby threw both arms around Masky and clung on for dear life. He looked behind him to see the Rake, free and extremely pissed. It jumped on the catwalk, making the old rusted metal creak dangerously.

“Fuck!” Toby screamed, panic causing his voice to break. The Rake growled and lunged at him. Masky pulled himself forward but the Rake ignored the offering, instead crawling past him eyes locked with the youngest proxy. Toby felt himself stumble back, pulling his shoulders forward as if to appear smaller. The railing pressed into the small of his back and stood to its full height, putting clawed hands on each of his shoulders raking downwards, turning his chest into streamers of flesh. The weight on the metal bar behind him was to much and with a quick snap, he was falling off the catwalk and into the dark abyss below.

“Toby!” He heard Clocky scream and her voice came closer as she jumped in with him, and oh god please don't let them both die here.

The sound of running water came closer and suddenly Toby's back slapped against dark churning liquid and he found himself sinking like a rock, the pipes dumping water from above had made a pretty strong current that swung him around like a rag doll and pushed him deeper, everything felt sluggish and he gulped in water before his brain could remember not too. If he wasn't already underwater now was probably the part where he would start crying.

Suddenly he felt a hand on his wrist and he was pressed up against a muscular body. It wasn’t Clocky, but Masky who was dragging him up towards what he guessed was the surface, had he jumped in after him even before Clockwork had? Masky would never do anything for his safety, especially if it meant putting himself in danger too, but today had been full of surprises so who was he to judge at this point.

Dead man, dead man, dead man. You’re a dead man, voices chanted over and over again. Disgusting little dead man. Rotting little dead man. Pathetic dead man. The voices were rough and blended together.

Masky pulled his head above the water but still couldn't seem to breathe, instead, he coughed up what had to have been a gallon of water before going limp once more. He felt cool hands quickly brush back the hair on his forehead and looked lazily into a single green eye. After a bit more coughing he took in a single deep rasping breath.

Die, die, die, die, die, die. Die already, dead man.

“No,” Toby wetly gasped out. “No, I don’t wanna die.”

“Toby?” Masky begged, pulling him impossibly closer as they all 3 tread water.

Tim. Brian. Tim. Brian. Tim. Brian. TIM. BRIAN.

Toby sobbed out, bringing his hands up and clutching at his head. All these voices were saying different things at the same time, his head felt like it was about to explode.

I’m going to kill you, another voice said, but this one stood out. It was strong, feminine, and extremely familiar. It was the voice of the blonde girl from when he first woke up...

After that things seemed to jumpcut, they were being pulled along by the water, then falling, and people kept screaming, the only thing he could consistently remember where Maskys hands never left his body, they were shaking though and he kept hearing his name repeated but nothing else made sense.

When he finally opened his eyes again he was being held to Masky's chest as the eldest proxy carried him quickly through the garden outside of SCP Headquarters. Once they reached the woods Toby was gently sat against a tree and Masky was inches from his face, terror in his eyes as he raised a hand to Toby's neck, probably checking for a pulse...

Toby's hands twitched out and held at Masky's wet and torn sweater, and relief is visible in both him and Clocky at the first sign of him being alive. “You blacked out on me,” Masky muttered. “You wouldn’t even move for like ten minutes, I thought...”

Toby opened his mouth but quickly shut it. How could he even respond to that? “

“You guys okay?” He finally managed to ground out, surprised at how raw his voice sounded.

“Ask me that when my hair is dry,” Clocky teased, swinging her tangled damp hair out of her face. Toby heard the sound of a car honking and turned back around. A black truck with heavily tinted windows drove up next to them and Toby has had enough with fighting these SCPs. He tried to reach for his knife but stopped when he noticed that it was only Hoody driving the car.

“Need some help?” He nervously asked, and Toby could only laugh, some help would have been great about 40 minutes ago.

Masky stood back up with a groan of pain and shuffled up to Hoody, decked him in the face, and slid into the passenger side. 

Hoody didn't really seem affected by the punch, but he didn’t hit him back. He just took it.

Clocky came forward and yanked Toby up and towards the vehicle, Hoodie scrambled to open the back door for them and seemed visibly distraught at how he was stumbling about and bleeding everywhere. His hands kept rising and falling as if he wanted to help but didn't know if his touch would be welcomed.

“Where have you been?” Toby questioned as he sprawled out in the back seat.

“I can explain,” Hoody said.

“Of course, you can,” Masky scoffed, brooding.

“Let’s just get out of here first,” he stated firmly and got into the driver’s side and floored it. Toby didn’t even look at the window as they drove away from the SCP Headquarters he let his eyes full shut as his head continued to pound.

Fuck, he couldn’t even look at Hoody.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably my favorite chapter yet! I'm a sucker for hurt comfort and definitely ship all 3 proxies a bit... I don't know if that will be fully incorporated into the story or not so if anyone has an opinion please let me know! I'm definitely open to constructive criticism


	5. Anonoymus

They spent maybe twenty minutes in near silence before Toby exploded.

“What the fuck was that!?” he demanded, surprised that he was the one to say it.

Hoody glanced at him, keeping his hands firmly on the wheel. “Calm down, Toby,” 

“Calm down?” Toby repeated, gaping at him. “You left Masky to die! I hate him as much as the next person, but you can’t do that shit!”

“Yet the traitor did,” Masky remarked, still facing the window. He was slightly shivering and his face was red. “It doesn’t matter. He’s leaving when we get home.”

Hoody turned his head towards him. “You can’t do that, Tim,” he said.

“Don’t call me Tim,” he growled. “It was fucking annoying when you were my friend, and I tolerated, but I won’t let a traitorous scumbag do it.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” he said. “I didn’t betray anyone.”

“Then who are you?!” He exclaimed, facing Hoody. A sneer on his face.

“I’m Hoody!” He answered.

“No, you’re not, so tell me the fucking truth,” Masky hissed. Toby could hear him grit his teeth.

Hoody sighed. “My original name was Miles,” he revealed. “It means the soldier, but I changed my name to Brian when all the agents were killed.”

“Why Brian?” Toby asked.

Hoody looked at him through the mirror. “That’s my vessel’s name, Brian Thomas, but Hoody seemed like a good fit at the time.”

“Vessel?” He asked. “So, you’re possessing the guy under the mask? Dude, that’s terrible.”

“You murder people,” Hoody pointed out. “And Masky also has a vessel.”

Masky snarled. “Fuck you! I’m not possessing anyone!”

“So, you are Tim?”

“Not my fault the guy has multiple personality disorder.”

“Wait, what?” Toby asked, getting lost in the conversation. “You’re a personality?”

“Yes,” Masky gritted. “I thought Brian was too, but turns out he’s been playing me this entire time.”

“I’m not ‘playing you,’” M-Bri-Hoody insisted. Honestly, he didn’t know what to call him.

“You made me think that we could stop this!” Masky screeched. “You gave me hope, fucking hope, that we could stop him, but you knew we couldn’t. You knew that I was doomed from the start!”

“I thought you were the exception!” He yelled back. “I thought I could finally be free, but you weren’t. Tim wouldn’t let you!”

“Maybe he didn’t like being screwed over by you!”

“Well, maybe, if you had just did as I said then Jay would be alive!” The car eerily went quiet. Masky stared at him for a second before turning to the window again.

“I didn’t kill him, asshole,” he muttered after a moment.

“I know,” Hoody quietly replied and I could feel the guilt rolling off of him.

Toby wanted to ask who Jay was, but someone put a hand on his shoulder. He looked at Clocky and she shook her head. Another time, she mouthed out.

“I’m sorry for lying,” Hoody said after a moment. “I’ve had a long, tough life with Master and I just wanted an escape. After what happened to my brot-them, I thought I could be free by using you, but I have never wanted to hurt Tim. He was collateral damage.”

“Tell that to Tim,” Masky muttered. “All he wanted was to be normal.”

“I didn’t choose him,” he told him. “Master chose Tim and I had to go along. There’s nothing more.”

Masky looked at him sceptically before sinking back in his seat.

“What am I?” Toby asked, the question popping in his head. “I don’t think I’m possessed.” He added, pinching himself, but realized that he still couldn’t feel pain. He really hoped that he didn’t feel any more pain soon; that this was only temporary.

“You? You’re a psychopath,” Hoody answered simply. Toby shrugged.

“Can someone explain this to me?” Clocky asked, reading Toby’s mind.

“None of your business, bitch,” Masky lowly growled.

“I’d like to know, too,” Toby piped. “What are you?”

“I’m your friend,” Hoody replied. “Agents of Slenderman aren’t any different than proxies except they have more power. A bunch of the agents decided to rebel and this lead to all over them being burned. I managed to escape and so did The Observer, but Master decided to spare me. I was in hibernation until he told me to keep an eye on a Timothy Wright-”

“Masky’s other personality,” Toby said.

“Yes,” he said. “It took a while for Tim to submit to Master; too long for Master’s liking. That’s when the proxy was invented. Tim was a trial and error, and then you came along.”

“Me?” Toby asked.

“You were made to be a proxy and Masky is kinda like a slave or victim. There were others like him, but they mostly failed like a guy named Alex-” Masky growled. “And another named Jay, but they’re dead. There were a lot more, but Master finally created the proxy.”

“So, Toby has always been a proxy?” Clocky asked.

Hoody hesitated for a moment. “Yes. The Observer was wrong, Toby is the first proxy.”

“And you call me a liar,” Masky muttered and he barely caught it.

Hoody sent him a look. “I found your mask and clothes,” he said to all of them. “They’re in the back, so we can stop by a gas station and you guys can get dressed.”

“How did you keep your mask?” Toby asked, his mind wandering.

“I have my ways,” he said and Toby could hear the smile on his face.

Hoody ended up pulling over at a deserted gas station, the place definitely looked abandoned but there were a couple of old cars he was trying to siphon gas from. He pulled his change of clothes from the bag between him and Clocky, being sure to toss Masky his set as well. The gas station had a single bathroom so he slipped inside and started to peel off still damp clothes, something clattered to the ground as he unrolled the shirt and his breath hitched as he looked down at his old goggles that had been gently glued back together in the broken eye...

\---

As he stumbled out of the bathroom he ran directly into Masky who just gently steadied him and entered behind him the door between them locking with a soft click. This was just... sad... he never realized how much he loved their bickering until it was gone... 

Before he could head back outside something soft hit him in the back, he spun around to see Clocky with a grin on her face and a plethora of assorted snacks obviously raided from the back.

“I wasn’t even gone for five minutes,” he groaned, reaching out to help carry some of the stolen treasure.

She turned to him and looked him directly in the eyes. “I couldn’t wait.”

“Well at least try next time,” he teased, trying to fake annoyance, but as ClockWork threw her head back and laughed Toby couldn't help but smile as well, say what you wanted but Natalie had to be one of the prettiest girls in the world. They locked eyes but before Toby could say anything Tim was slamming open the bathroom door and the mood was broken just like that. He gave the older proxy a wave and went to look back at Clocky but suddenly the voices slammed into him.

Pretty Natalie. Pretty Natalie. Pretty Natalie. Dead Natalie. Dead Natalie. NATALIE’S DEAD!!! 

The blonde girl’s voice screamed in his head and he jerked his head back. He saw a girl in the back, crouched by one of the old coolers, she looked nothing like before. She was wearing sweats and her hair was back in a pony tail. She was all bloody, her rib cage open and her jaw disconnected. Her dead grey eyes stared at him and Toby stared back in horror. His chest started to hurt the longer I stared at her.

“Toby?” Clocky asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Go away,” He pleaded. “Make her go away.”

Dead girl, she’s a dead girl. You killed her. You killed her. You killed the pretty girl. You killed ME. The girl rambled and started to walk towards him. Toby took a few steps back and Clocky kept looking at him like he was insane.

She looked behind him. “No one’s here, Toby,” she said, but he didn’t believe her. He blinked a few times, hoping she would go away, but she stayed. He decided to concentrate on Clocky. She was real, he knew that. She was something he could feel. The girl appeared in front of him, blocking his view of Clocky, and screamed in his face.

He felt her blood touch his face. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. KILL ME. KILL ME. KILL ME. It repeated over and over. Toby screwed his eyes shut.

"Toby. Toby. Toby"!! He shook even more and opened his eyes when he realized that it wasn’t the girl anymore.

“Toby!” Clocky screamed, shaking him. “Toby! It’s not real!”

“Clocky,” he choked out and she sighed, her lips parting, He felt a hand pressed against his back but when he jumped away it was only Masky...

“What was that?” He asked.

“I don’t know,” Toby gasped out. “I saw a dead girl.”

“What did she look like?”

“She was blonde,” he answered. “And she was older, probably twenty and she- her chest was open-” Toby’s voice cracked.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay,” Clockwork said, her voice going smooth. “There’s nothing there.”

“But- but I saw her,” he stuttered, his chest feeling heavy. “She’s dead. She’s fucking dead.” Toby gnawed on his hand and Clocky removed it from his mouth.

“Calm down,” she said. “She’s not going to get you, no one here would let her hurt you.” He nodded. “Why don’t you go outside with Hoody? I’ll get us some more supplies.”

\---

The bell above the front door rang on his way out, causing him to involuntarily duck his head and skitter to the car a little faster than hed like to admit. Glancing back he saw Clocky pulling Masky close and moving her hands towards the corner he had seen the girl. The concern shown on their faces felt like a punch to the gut...

“You okay?” Hoody questioned, glancing at him through the rearview mirror.

“Yeah,” Toby said, gulping. “I just saw something.”

“...Saw something?”

“A dead girl,” he answered. “I’ve been seeing her for quite some time.”

Hoodie stayed silent for a moment and began tapping his fingers anxiously against the wheel before fully turning around in his seat. “Tell me if you see her again,” he replied and turned the ignition to the car.

Toby hummed and looked out the window, every joint in his body felt stiff and the scratches down his chest from the rake were hot to the touch... Hopefully, this mission ended soon. he rested his head gently against the glass and watched as the trees began to sway from the force of the wind.

He wasn't awake when Masky and Clocky joined them a few minutes later.

\---

When he woke up next it was to the faint murmur of the radio and crinkle as some kind of bag was opened

" What time is it?" He mumbled out, warm fingers ran up his arms and something cold was quickly pressed into his hands as his eyes squinted open to reveal the darkness of the car. "It's a little after 10, you were out for about six hours" what sounded like hoodie called from the front.

“Close your eyes” Clocky sang, shoving half her body into the trunk while he finally managed to sit up and sip at the sprite she had handed him, when the brunette swung back around a red axe in her hand he about choked “It was in the back of the store.”

“Is that a fire axe?” Masky questioned from the front. "When did you even have time to grab that?"

Clocky let out a short laugh before pressing the axe into his free hand, it definitely wasn't as nice has his personal hatchets, but was so much better than nothing. As he began to examine the weapon further ClockWork spoke up once again "We are headed back to Rosswood, Master isn't answering anyone's calls, but he might still be hiding out in the forest"

“Master doesn’t hide,” Toby muttered and got an eye-roll in response before Clocky continued

“We should inform him on the situation and try to recruit as many proxies as possible.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Masky said, as Clocky scooted closer to Toby and offered him a crisp. 

\---

The ride continued on in near silence, not once did he and Masky fight and you could tell that Hoody was grateful, However, Masky did make a few jabs at the uncomfortable looking driver, Hoody never once responded. Masky was an infinite ball of anger, he always had to take it out on something, but it was the first time he took it out on Hoody that Toby had ever seen.

He wasn’t a huge fan of peace, but this was utter bliss from the chaos. He found out so much in such a small space of time. He started to close his eyes, sleep surrounding him. Everything will be okay, he told himself, everything will be fi-

“BRIAN!” Masky screamed and the car spun out, before coming to a sudden stop. 

Toby was thrown forward between the two front seats, apparently, everyone else was buckled in but him... lucky bastards... He looked over Hoody’s shoulder to see a dark figure standing in front of the car. It appeared to be a girl who wore a white hoody with dirt over a pink shirt. It’s long, coarse black hair covered most of their white face...wait a second, was this who he thought it was? Before anyone could say anything the girl in the street screeched.

“Chaser?” Masky exclaimed, his voice filled with shock. The Chaser, known as Kate by Toby, was a mysterious proxy. He didn’t know much about her, but she was very kind to him when they met. She usually went on her own missions, sometimes joining them if it was deemed important enough. He hadn’t seen her for, like, seven months. 

“Kate!” Toby exclaimed, forcing the child lock on his door and swinging out into the dark. 

“Toby!” Clocky called out, but he ignored her. He ran to Kate’s side. She was shaking, her limbs stiff.

“Where have you been?” Toby asked. “We’ve been trying to contact you for hours!” She tilted her head, her beady black eyes catching his. She looked.. empty, slowly a low growling sound began to fill the street.

Toby stepped back in caution. “Kate… are you okay?” He reached over, trying to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back. The next thing he knew he was in the air being thrown backwards, as he hit the car the front window shattered beneath his weight.

“Toby!” Clocky screamed. He groaned and felt someone drag him off the hood of the car by his ankle. 

“Nice one, Katie!” A voice in the darkness exclaimed. He kicked the hand away from his fight and twisted, his back was pressed firmly against the front of the car, but he had just enough room to twist his head and put a face to the voices. Vince stood behind Chaser, laughing. Toby vaguely remembered Vince from a long time ago. He was one of those guys HABIT monitored... Definitely not someone he wanted to go against... Vince was in his mid twenties and wasn’t the best proxy. He was mostly used for missions that needed human contact since he was one of the lucky few that didn’t have a fucked up face or terrible social skills. He looked like any normal human with brown eyes, long brown hair and a thick beard, He wore mostly band shirts and had a huge bloodlust for brunettes.

“Don’t call me that,” Kate growled, her voice rolling like gravel.

“Whatever,” Vince said, brandishing a knife. “Let’s get on with this.”

“Why are you so eager to rush these things?” Someone tsked behind Vince. They walked closer to Toby until the figure’s face could be seen by the headlights. It was Jessica. Jessica wasn’t much of a proxy. She had been one for a while, but her mind didn’t cave into Master's will. She was a beautiful woman with long brown hair and equally brown eyes. She had dark circles around her eyes and her pale face was sunken with paranoia. Toby remembered slowly watching her lose her mind and sometimes she would cave in, but eventually, she escaped Master’s influence. He always thought she was a fool. 

In the end, he was just happy that he didn’t have to kill her like Ron...

“As much as I’d like to skin the little tick in front of his friends, we need to wait for our leader. He isn’t done with Tobias,” she explained, from within the car, he heard the other proxies scrambling around, probably trying to see if anyone else was out in the dark and if they had enough firepower to take these guys down.

“Can’t I hurt him a little?” Vince practically begged.

Jessica rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Just leave him alive.”

Vince turned to him and flashed a smile. “I’m going to enjoy this.” As he approached the car Kate's grip stayed firm, there was no way she should have been this strong, even with the enhanced strength Master gave them all... He turned back around and rested his forehead against the dented hood of the car.

“Kate,” Toby choked out, “please, don’t.”

He turned back around to plead with his captor, how many friends was he going to loose? Kate glanced down at him, a cross between apathy and remorse, but didn’t move from her spot. “Don’t kill him,” she firmly reminded Vince. The sound of car doors slamming open knocked him out of his haze and the next thing he knew Kate was letting him go and he booked it back to the relative safety of his friends.

“Kate!” Masky exclaimed. “What are you doing?”

Kate shook her head but refused to make eye contact, she looked sad but her stance was determined. “She’s tired of following your rules,” Jessica answered for her, walking with slow intent towards the group. “She wants freedom.”

“We aren’t forcing Kate to do anything,” Toby said.

“Liar,” she hissed. “You all are fucking liars!” She turned her eyes to Masky and Hoody, her eyes moving back and forth from them. “All liars,” she growled. “You ruined everything.”

“You left,” Masky said. “You left and now you’re here again. How is that our fault?”

Toby could hear her gritting her teeth. “I’ll leave, but after I get my revenge.”

“Revenge?” Hoody asked. “You don’t need revenge, Jessica. You need to forget about this and leave!”

She shot Hoody a glare and Toby was glad that the looks could kill expression wasn't a real thing. “You get yourself wrapped up in the most ridiculous situations,” Masky commented. “No matter what, you always come back.”

“This is the last time,” Vince promised. “We’ll get our money, our revenge and our freedom.”

Jessica suddenly swiveled around, her hair fanning out as she turned to her partners in crime. “Plan C-12!” She spat out at them. Oh great, Jessicca had obviously brushed up on their training codes, this would make things a bit more difficult... but there was a catch back, Toby immediately recognized the plan and they all ducked. He grabbed Clocky’s hand and forced her down as Kate lifted up Jessica and launched her at them. She rebounded off the car, landing in front of Toby.

Clocky hissed before shifting in front of him and tackling her to the ground. Toby jumped to his feet and saw Hoody outlined in front of him, holding his new axe out to him by the handle. “Thanks,” he said and turned to Vince. “I got Mr. Douchebag,” he told Hoody and Masky. They nodded and Vince started laughing.

“Did you really think we’d go three against four?” Vince teased. “No, we have one more guest.” Everyone around him stared on in confusion as Toby heard crunching metal. He turned around and tried to hide his surprised voice when he saw Jeff the Killer standing on top of the car, making the already beaten roof cave in.

“Miss me,” he laughed.

“You again?” Masky asked, his voice covered in venom. “Don’t you have something better to do?”

“Unlike you, I please my Master,” 

“Really?” Toby said sarcastically. “Last time I checked, I beat your sorry ass.”

He shrugged. “A small set back. But I don’t make the same mistake twice.”

“I’d love to beat the shit out of you again,” he taunted.

“Too bad we can’t, Vince, occupy the pest.”

“My pleasure,” Vince said and Toby felt himself be picked up under the arms and lifted into the air. “Hey!” He exclaimed, slightly shocked by Vince’s strength, this seemed to be a repeating pattern, they should have been able to beat everyone they came against easily, this wasn't a normal fight anymore and these guys had their own boss supplying them power... He should be able to beat Vince to a pulp, though they had a similar personality with the same bloodlust, what differed them was the fact that Toby was the only one who could act on it. Vince was terrible at killing, especially non-humans, or at least he used to be.

He was swiftly tossed a couple of feet away but managed to stick the landing and switch to the offensive, he swung with expert precision but only grazed Vinny across the face once. He moved inhumanly quick but seemed to have trouble slowing down quickly... With what little luck he had Toby lunged forward but ducked to the side before they could collide. He stared on at Vince’s form as it rolled over the hood of the car with agility some people prayed for.

This can’t be Vince, he thought. The Vince he despised was all talk and no bite. He begged for a fight, yet ran away when it was given. He never finished anything and only killed small women who couldn’t defend themselves. He was a natural scaredy-cat, but this Vince was different. There were thoughts and promises behind his words.

“Who are you?” Toby asked.

Vince smirked. “I’m me, Toby. Just think of me as upgraded.”

Toby looked around him, hoping for some help from Masky and Hoody, but he was shocked by what he saw. 

...They were loosing...

Toby was supposed to take on Jeff, but Vince had made that impossible. Hoody was battling Kate, but could barely keep up with her speed. Clocky wasn’t doing so bad with Jessica, but still struggled to kill her. Masky couldn’t even mark Jeff! They’re supposed to be the best proxies in the business, but these wannabes were getting the best of them. How was this possible?

“An upgrade?” Toby scoffed. “What does that mean?”

“A small gift from Dr. Smiley,” he answered. “Such a brilliant, yet neglected man. He promised us small boosts for your capture. You angered him very much.”

“How’s his eye doing?” Toby asked and smiled when Vince’s jaw stiffened.

“Shut up,” he hissed and dashed towards him. Toby blocked his attack with the handle of the axe. Vince pulled his knife back and struck his axe in the same area, successfully splitting it in two.

“Motherfucker!” Toby cursed. “I just got this!”

“You shouldn’t be so slow,” Vince remarked, bringing his knife down again. He nicked Toby in the shoulder, but that gave him a chance to give Vince a punch to the face.

Vince growled, glaring at Toby. “You should learn to dodge,” Toby shot back.

They played like this, back and forth, for at least ten minutes until Toby managed to do something besides nicking him. Vince was suddenly good, but he was still an arrogant bastard. Toby was also arrogant, but not in these battles. He wasn’t that stupid.

Vince groaned when Toby cut through his shoulder with his axe. He crumpled to the floor, dropping his knife to clutch his shoulder. Usually Toby would take the time to torture him, but unlike him, the others weren’t doing too hot. He didn't have time to hesitate so he closed his eyes and swung what's left of his axe, lodging it in Vinny's head, he felt the shock waves roll up his arms and put a foot on the dead man's shoulder to get better leverage...his axe came back out with a wet crunch and a spray of blood, brain matter coated the blade and chunks of something littered the street around him.

He turned to the other battles. He watched Clocky subdue Jessica and slit her throat. She giggled at the blood and immediately went into aid Hoody in battle Hoody struggled to find Kate, her body running at superspeed; only a stream of white telling them that she was still here.

Masky wasn’t doing any better, he was a man of strategy, not violence. His moves were smart but lacked passion, fire. Toby decided to give that to him.

He steadied his stance, planting his feet firmly on the ground, and flung his axe at Jeff from behind. The axe almost made contact with his back, but Jeff turned last second and caught the axe! He turned to Toby, with wild eyes.

“Oh, the little Tic is playing?” He asked. “How wonderful! I was getting bored.”

“Oh, we’ll have fun,” Toby said. “It’ll be so much better when I paint the street with your blood.”

“I’m going to make you eat your words, freak,” he hissed.

“‘Freak’? How original,” he drawled. “Let’s dance.”

“My pleasure,” he grinned and threw the axe back at him. The second Toby caught it, Jeff charged.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! 
> 
> This is an older fic that I helped co-write a good 5 years back with the help of Jealpe12 and Numanum, since quotev is dead and I'm gonna try and get back into writing I figured importing some of my older works wouldn't hurt! This is my first time posting on AO3 so all pointers are apreciated!
> 
> Stalk my insta: CatiCat_YT  
> Tumblr : CrazedCoffeeCat
> 
> Credit also too:  
> Alex's old Tumblr- Jealpe.12tumblr.com/
> 
> and NumaNum, who probably wishes this fic would die out already UWU


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